Until Death Do Us Part
by Meisako
Summary: CHAPTER 14 UP. (there will always be a morning-after) Follow Lily, James and the gang from their seventh year to the story of that fateful night...
1. The Begining of Lives

**Until Death Do Us Part**  
_  
Harry Potter theme and related characters are property of J.K. Rowling. Plot idea is accredited to the original author, J.K.Rowling. Plot angle and revisions idea of Melissa Pomeroy. Character Verissa Station (name borrowed with permission from an aquaintence) property of Meisako Pyoko-Chan (Melissa Pomeroy), copyright 2002. Any and all reviews appriaciated._ **

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**  
_chapter **ONE**_: The Begining of Lives  


*****  
Welcome to my version of 'life before Harry'. This is the story of James, Lily, and the gang in their seventh year of Hogwarts to the begining of the Harry Potter series as we know it... Please read my rendition of Harry's fifth year, Harry Potter and the Fallen Angel at Hogwarts (complete), and his sixth year, Harry Potter and the Children's Crusades (work in progress).   
****  


  
Lily Evans frowned at the mirror, which frowned back.  
  
_"Brush your hair and wipe the gloss off your teeth and then you'll look fine!"_ The mirror told her.  
  
Lily wasn't at all suprised as she obeyed the talking looking glass, reaching for her comb. She was used to things that weren't ordinary, like the mirror. Things that moved on their own accord or spoke were among the things that gave Lily the most comfort during the summer while she was away from school While she was away from others who were just like _her_.  
  
Lily looked in her mirror again. "How's that?"  
  
_"Like a gem! Simply lovely!"_ it squealed, reflection smiling proudly at her. _"James'll adore you!"_  
  
Lily flushed pink and set her comb back down, knocking something off the vanity in her embarrassment. A _whoosh_ of gold and reddish sparks filled the room.  
  
"Oh no!" Lily stooped to pick up her wand, made of a fine willow (at the odd length of ten and one quarter inch), which had fallen off of the vanity, emmitting sparks as it struck against the hardwood floor. Lily rubbed the blackened floor cautiously, examining the damage. _Not too bad..._  
  
A thunder of footsteps echoed down the hall and Lily's door flew open with such vigor she thought the hinges would bust. A girl, five years older than herself, entered. She glared at Lily with pure and utter disgust.  
  
"You've done it again, haven't you?" The girl snarled through her long nose. "You've been practicing that _oddity_ of yours!" Her thin lips curled dully into a smirk. "This time, you'll be expelled for sure!" The girl turned stiffly and dashed back down the corridor.  
  
Lily frowned in mild annoyance. However much she loved her sister Petunia, Lily often felt like hexing her. Perhaps an engorgement charm on her ears, charms being Lily's speciallity. Oversized ears would seem to blend with Petunia's thin and smug face. Lily giggled softly and put her swishy wand back on the vanity when the door opened again, slowly this time.  
  
"Lily? Honey?" Lily turned to face her mother, who had entered and taken a seat at the end of Lily's bed. "Petunia said you were trying to curse her... You know what we've told you about teasing her-" Mrs. Evans knew that Lily wouldn't _really_ curse Petunia, as preforming magic outside of school resulted in expulltion.  
  
"Oh, no Mum. I wasn't trying anything on Petunia. I just dropped my wand, that's all."  
  
Mr. Evans, who had stood silently in the doorway spoke up disappointedly. "So you didn't- magic anything? Nothing at all?"  
  
"No, Dad. Just dropped my wand..." Lily had to laugh. Her parents were odd. She wasn't sure there were many parents out there who actually encouraged their child to be biazzarly different in so many ways from the other children.  
  
"I'm nervous, this year." Lily said to them, brushing her longish ginger-coloured bangs out of her eyes again.  
  
"About being Head Girl? I wouldn't worry, Lily." Her mother offered gently. "You were chosen to be an example to the students, just do what you always do. That's what got you the badge in the first place!" Lily nodded curtly and went to her chest of drawers to pack up a large sum of socks. Mrs. Evans's bossom swelled with pride. "Lily, you've grown so much! I'm so proud of you!"  
  
Lily felt blood heat her face. She hated it when her parents fussed over her accomplishments so much.  
  
"Really, Lily. We are proud. Before that day, we would have never even considered having a witch in the family! But there you are, and top of all your classes, too!" Mr. Evans was beaming.  
  
Lily struggled to hold a smile as emotions began to rise. "I'm going to miss it- when it's all over..."  
  
Mrs. Evans stood and retreived Lily's school uniform, a black robe with a stripe of red along the cuff, and folded it before placing it in Lily's trunk. "You'll keep in touch with your friends, dear. And James..." Lily looked up suddenly at her mother's face. "...James... well, maybe James can come over for supper sometime."  
  
Mr. Evans laughed merrily. "If they aren't married by then!"  
  
"Dad!"  
  
Mrs. Evans looked nervously from Lily to her husband and back. "Lily?" She looked at her husband angrily. "Thomas! Don't tease Lily about her boyfriend!"  
  
"Alright, Margot! Alright! I just thought that they have been going out long enough... You can't very well be boyfriend and girlfriend forever!" He added, turning to his daughter deffensively.  
  
"Lily! You've got a train to catch!" Margot Evans yelped with suprised as she noticed Lily's wall clock, which had words instead of number faces. The words read things such as 'late', 'punctual', and 'twenty-minutes early'. The hand had clicked idly to just before 'on time'.  
  
Thomas Evans went down to start up the automobile and Margot set about making sure Lily hadn't left any undergarments in the dryer.  
  
Lily, of course, was a witch of great skill, and about to attend her seventh, and unfortunately _last_ year of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She found out just weeks before her eleventh birthday, much to the pleasure of her parents, and musch to the _displeasure_ of Lily's older sister, Petunia.  
  
Petunia had thought it horrid, while the rest of the family were rather keen to the idea of Lily being accepted to the best wizarding school in Europe. Although if you asked Lily, who had done much research on other wizarding schools, Hogwarts was undoubtedly the best school in the entire whole of the world.  
  
Still, Petunia had always disliked her sister, even before they discovered Lily's gifts. Whether it was that Lily was the baby of the family, or whether she had her own reasons, Petunia found Lily's abilities to be an escuse to be more hateful by three-fold. Lily slammed her trunk shut and slipped a padlock on it. Pulling it off her bed and out the door she began to slowly make her way to the car her father had waiting. Petunia stood, pursed lipped, in the doorway.  
  
"You didn't even get _scolded_- You should have been expelled!"  
  
"As soon as you become Headmistress, please feel free to give me the boot, Petunia, dear." Lily retorted sarcastically.  
  
Petunia was twenty-two and still lived at home with her parents. Lily found that depending on some one else for so many years made a person selfish and bitter. Lily vowed to never let this happen to herself.  
  
Lily said goodbye to her parents and sister at the car before walking into the barrier between platforms nine and ten at Kins Cross Station. It was quite easy- as long as you were inconspicious. Muggles, people without magical abilities (like Petunia), often screamed if they saw you disappear into the seemingly solid wall. This led Lily to believe that taking her leave of her family in the parking lot was the best solution to getting on the Hogwarts Express smoothly.  
  
Lily stepped aboard the red train that would take her to school and found an empty compartment, which wasn't hard, as she was very early. She made a mental note to put her foot through her wall clock when she got home. Stupid thing was far less than accurate. She sat imaptiently for a long while, waiting for some one to arrive. Some one to talk to.  
  
After hearing the voices of other students board the train, Lily got to her feet and walked about, looking for a friend. She knocked on several doors, but only found them to be empty or sporting a few extremely excited first years. At the thirteenth or so door, Lily found who she was looking for.  
  
"Verissa!"  
  
"Lily, you're early this year!" A strawberry-blonde girl smiled at her, although if you called her strawberry-blonde, you may not live to tell the tale. To Verissa Station, it was white-cherry. She was fatally allergic to strawberries.  
  
"I am, but glad at that! Say... you want to sit with me in my compartment? The guys should be arriving there soon-" Lily offered, leaning against the side of the door frame, tilting her head slightly.  
  
"Can I?" Verissa's eyes lit up. "Will you help me with my trunk?"  
  
Together they pulled the trunk down to room 7B where Lily's stuff already sat. Verissa smiled greatfully and slumped into a cushiony bench. Verissa was a Ravenclaw, a fifth year, nonetheless, but she was alright. Lily was in Gryffindor herself, but she never felt it benethe her to befriend other students from other houses or of different ages even. Lily found their relationship to be a special one, as other than Verissa, Lily had only three real friends; James Potter, Sirius Black, and Remus Lupin. Sure she had other 'friends', but she couldn't confide in them like she did 'the guys'. But Lily felt that being friends with Verissa was more important to the Ravenclaw, than to herself. Verissa was so shy, it was near complete solitude.  
  
For some reason, she had opened up to Lily, and to Lily alone, but she was starting to ease up around Lily's guy friends, especially Remus. Lily sat across from Verissa and crossed her legs politely at the ankles.  
  
"How was your summer holiday, Vera? Good, I hope?"  
  
"Good, yes- My aunt came down for Mum's birthday... What a hoot!" Verissa laughed. "She caught the picnic table afire when she tried to set off the crackers with Muggle matches!" Verissa came from a pureblooded family. The Stations were near as prominant as the Malfoys, only much nicer. The family was so prominant, in fact, that they had long ago changed the pronounciation of their last name from 'Stay-shun' to 'Steh-tsi-ohn', with a rich French accent, although no Station had ever been French.  
  
"What about you, Lily?" she asked, smiling.  
  
"Oh, same old, same old. Petunia running amuck at home, bringing her insufferable fiancee` over for meals five times a week, screaming her head off every time I'm within two feet of my wand..." Lily sighed and stretched out a bit. "You can't get much more Muggle than my sister, Petunia."   
  


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I know it's a bad place to stop, but I haven't done any homework!   
  
**Please email me! Slytherin_Angel@MostlySunny.com**


	2. Train Ride

**Until Death Do Us Part**  
_  
Harry Potter theme and related characters are property of J.K. Rowling. Plot idea is accredited to the original author, J.K.Rowling. Plot angle and revisions idea of Melissa Pomeroy. Character Verissa Station (name borrowed with permission from an aquaintence) property of Meisako Pyoko-Chan (Melissa Pomeroy), copyright 2002. Any and all reviews appriaciated._ **

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**  
_chapter **TWO**_: The Train Ride  


*****  
Welcome to my version of 'life before Harry'. This is the story of James, Lily, and the gang in their seventh year of Hogwarts to the begining of the Harry Potter series as we know it... Please read my rendition of Harry's fifth year, Harry Potter and the Fallen Angel at Hogwarts (complete), and his sixth year, Harry Potter and the Children's Crusades (work in progress).   
****  


  
Voices growing louder in the train told Lily that more students had arrived and the the Hogwarts Express would be leaving soon.  
  
"Reckon James and Remus'll find us before the train leaves?"  
  
Verissa blushed sheepishly. "I hope so... do you think Remus is still sick?"  
  
"Don't tell anyone, Vera- but I think Remus has some sort of disease. He's been sick an awful lot." Lily whispered, leaning towards her friend as the Hogwarts whistle blew. The train was leaving.  
  
Verissa looked pale. "Do you think he'll be alright?"  
  
"Near as far as I can tell, he'll be fine. He's been sick since before I met him in my first year. I think Remus is strong enough. Lily sat back and the door opened suddenly, making her 'whoop' in suprise.  
  
"Holy cricket, Sirius! You scared the breath out of me!" Lily laughed when the shock had settled. The tall, dark haired boy bowed low and smiled cheesily.  
  
"I'm sorry, m'lady- allow me to make it up to you." He walked in and got on his knees, taking Lily's hand. "Take this as a token of my repentence." Sirius bent his head to kiss Lily's hand when there was a grunt behind them.  
  
"I don't think you'll be wanting to do that, Sirius."  
  
Sirius turned around, smiling broadly. "Why James! How simply sporting to see you! Been a long time, hasn't it old chap?"  
  
"Budge up, Sirius... You saw me five minutes ago." James Potter said, shaking his head in humorous disbelief.  
  
"Really? I must be getting old, losing my memory..." Sirius looked at Lily and bit his lip, confused. "Now... what was I doing?"  
"You were moving so I could sit next to my girlfriend, Padfoot." said James, shoving his friend. Lily scooted over and James sat down. "Hello, Honey."  
"Hi James, nice holiday?" Lily asked, leaning her head on his shoulder.  
  
"Fairly... Listen Lil, I did alot of thinking over the summer... alot."  
  
"About what?" Lily looked up into James's deep mocha coloured yes. The eyes she had fallen in love with from day one. The eyes that complemented his charmingly thin face and handsome raven black hair. Lily could could read those eyes better than she could any text book. Something stirred deep within them. James was troubled.  
  
"Oh-" James looked at Sirius, as if for support. His best friend seemed to have a loss of words and shrugged. James nervously picked at a loose thread on his pant pockets. "Erm... you see, there's something I've been-"  
  
"Look, _James_, there's Remus!" Sirius said, glancing at the doorway.  
  
James looked away from Lily to look at Remus Lupin, a sandy haired boy, their age, standing infront of their compartment.  
  
"Hallo, Moony!"  
  
"Hello, Remus- How are you?" Verissa asked timidly, trying to look as though she weren't scared by the thought of speaking to her crush.  
  
"Pleasant, Rissa, and you?"  
  
"G-good."  
  
Remus glanced at her and flashed a smile before returning to the corridor for something. Verissa turned and faced the window, but seeing her relfection, showed her newly roseneed cheeks and pinkened ears.  
  
"James... Sirius... Could you help me?" Remus's voice carried in the compartment from the hall. Lily poked her head out the door to see what the guys had gotten up to assist with.  
  
"Remus! What did you do? I know he can get annoying, but honestly!" Lily shrieked when they half-dragged, half-carried a boy in. The boy was completely stiff and looked unbelievably tense. Some one had used a full body bind on him.  
  
"Oh, Peter!" Verissa gaspedturning from the window to look at the chocolate-grey haired boy, who was slightly out of shape. "What happened to him?"  
  
"I just pulled him and Snape apart, but not before the greasy git got him. they were quarrelling over something, and it looked dead serious."  
  
"What looked dead?" Sirius said after he put his end of the seventh year on the floor.  
  
"No, Sirius... I said _serious_- never mind." Remus and James set Peter down. "Now, I would have revived him already, but alas, I cannot recall the countercurse..." Lupin looked at Lily pleadingly. "Could you?"  
  
"Of course... Don't you fellas pay any attention to Flitwick?" Lily replied getting her wand out of her trunk. Professor Flitwick was the little wizard who taught Charms lessons. He was so little that when not standing on anything, you couldn't even see his brownish-grey bearded face over his desk. He had taught them the counter curse for _Petrificus Totalis_ in their second year.  
  
"Hand movement reverse, remember?" Lily waved her wand and Peter's body fell limp.  
  
"Thanks, guys... That Snape's a bugger." Peter was helped to his feet by James and Sirius.  
  
"How'd this happen?" Sirius asked, taking the seat across from Verissa. "Did he just right out and attack you?"  
  
"No... He said something about Lily I reckon he shouldn't have said." Peter rubbed the back of his head where a large goose egg was forming. He obviously hit his head after he was attacked.  
  
"What did that nasty grease ball say about Lil?" James was furious, standing up quickly. They all knew what Snape had said, he always said it. Snape had called Lil a 'Mudblood'. It was the worst, most degrading term you could use for a person of Muggle parentage. Lily never really paid attention to it, however. She didn't see how a word could stir up so much hate, fully believing in the old rhyme; _stick and stones will break my bones..._  
  
"James, please sit down-" She touched his hands and watched his eyes soften. Those heavenly eyes.  
  
James sat, slightly calmer than before, but still very heated over Snape. "I only hope he gets all that he deserves in this life. That's all I can say."  
  
"I've got some fillibusters in my trunk-" Peter offered.  
  
"And I've got my yearly supply of dungbombs!" Sirius smiled.  
  
Remus puffed out his chest proudly. "Father and I developed a type of firing arm that sprays tripe!"  
  
"_Wicked!_"  
  
Soon Peter Petigrew, James Potter, Sirius Black, and Remus Lupin were deep in conversation on how to get back at Snape, while Verissa muttered "Boys" dryly in her corner.  
  
Lily didn't very well understand why they hated Severus Snape so much. Sure, Snape had been disagreeable enough up to their fifth year, but after that, James and his friends detested Snape beyond reason, and Snape likewise. Something had happened then, but they never extended an offer to enlighten Lily on the matter. That was fine with her. The boys had a special friendship with each other that she dared not interfere with.  
  
"A spell to make him wet the bed? Really, Sirius, that's childish!"  
  
"And giving him a potion to sprout mule's hair on his rear _isn't_, Remus?" Sirius sighed, desperate for a simply outrageous idea. "At least my idea was better than what Wormtail thought up."  
  
"But beaver teeth would suit him so well!" Peter snapped irratably, baring _his_ own bucked incisors. With his pointed nose, elongated fingers, and those teeth- Lily thought he looked much like a rat, not that she'd ever actually tell anyone that.  
  
"I can make his robes change to the Gryffindor colours..." James began.  
  
"Switching colours? Child's play, Potter. Honestly? Why not give 'the greasy slimeball' a dose of Veristadum? That's what I'd do... then make him tell his inner most secrets to the whole school-" a low metalically voise said.  
  
James didn't look up. "Leave us be, Snape. I don't want you stinking up my robes." Peter backed away from the visitor and Remus glowered.  
  
"And if I don't?" He asked, almost rhetorically.  
  
"I'll make you." Sirius balled his fists intimidatingly.  
  
"You wouldn't want any violence infront of these young ladies would yo-" Snape looked at Lily and Verissa with a twisted smile on his sallow face. "-Oh! My mistake. Hit me. _Trolls_ don't mind violence in the least!"  
  
James looked as if he were to explode and Verissa burst into heaving sobs. Lily tried to remain cool.  
  
"Hello to you, too, Severus."  
  
Snape looked sick. "Don't use my first name! I don't want it spoiled by a filthy Mudblood!"  
  
"Your parents spoiled the name enough by naming you that. Now, just get Snape." Sirius said angrily, holding an even angrier James back.  
  
Lily had once tried to teach them what her parents called the 'Thumper Rule' - if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all - but that never worked around Snape. He always brought the worst out in them.  
  
Snape took a step back when Remus drew his wand. "Alright.. But I'd be careful of anything might drink tonight, if I were you, Potter. Might say something you'd regret." And he left.  
  
"Snape's full of hot air, James. Really, I'm not bothered by what he called me..."  
  
"Lil- he just can't go around insulting people! One of these days... I swear... One of these days." Reluctantly, James sat. With an anxious look towards Sirius he cleared his throat. "Maybe we should change into our robes now-"  
  
Verissa glanced at her watch. "Uh- yeah. C'mon Lily. We'll go to the toilet and you guys just change here." She pulled out her black school robe with a blue stripe along the cuffs, and Lily hers. They left just as Sirius was pulling off his shirt. ("Ah, James! They don't care...")  
  
"Why are we changing into our robes so early? We wont arrive for another hour and one half!" Lily asked as they changed from their Muggle garb into the Hogwarts standard attire.  
  
"You didn't sense it?" Verissa replied incerdously. "I would have though- you being James's girlfriend and all..."  
  
"What?" Lily looked at her friend, stoll half over her head. "What about James?"  
  
"Well..." Verissa looked uncomfortable. "In his voice, it just sounded like he wanted for us to leave for a bit... You're certain you didn't catch it?"  
  
Lily got quiet for a moment. "I guess I didn't notice..." She frowned. "Some girlfriend I am."  
  
"Oh come on, Lily! You two are great together- James was just too subtle, that's all. Really." Verissa straightened her friend's stoll absentmindedly.  
  
Lily sighed and picked up her jeans from the floor. "Okay. Let's go back."  
  
They returned to the compartment to find the guys in serious conversation. The instant the girls slid the door open they hushed up and didn't say anymore. Lily caight James flash Remus a peculiar look.  
  
Had Lily done something wrong?   
  


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Thanks to my two reviewers!   
  
Slinkymalinki: There you go! Here's the guys! (They're happy to see you too!)  
  
Thistlemeg: Thanks, and did you get your homework done? :)   
  
**Please email me! Slytherin_Angel@MostlySunny.com**


	3. Head Girl

**Until Death Do Us Part**  
_  
Harry Potter theme and related characters are property of J.K. Rowling. Plot idea is accredited to the original author, J.K.Rowling. Plot angle and revisions idea of Melissa Pomeroy. Character Verissa Station (name borrowed with permission from an aquaintence) property of Meisako Pyoko-Chan (Melissa Pomeroy), 2002. Any and all reviews appriaciated._ **

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

**  
_chapter **THREE**_: Head Girl  


*****  
Welcome to my version of 'life before Harry'. This is the story of James, Lily, and the gang in their seventh year of Hogwarts to the begining of the Harry Potter series as we know it... Please read my rendition of Harry's fifth year, Harry Potter and the Fallen Angel at Hogwarts (complete), and his sixth year, Harry Potter and the Children's Crusades (work in progress).   
****  


  
Lily sat the remainder of the trip to Hogwarts in silence, half pondering James and the rest of life in general, half sleeping. Sometime during her half woken stage, James had put his arm around her. Lily sat, quite content, longing for the moment to never end. But all things must come to an end, yes, even the bad things stop at some point after they have begun. Thank Merlin for that.  
  
This theory of hers and James's warm embrace were Lily's only comfort at this stage in her life, and there weren't many who could even say that. Not this period of their lives at all.  
  
Darkness was upon them, magic and Muggle alike were in danger of going to bed one night and never waking. _He_ was out there - out to get them. To get them all. _He_ showed no mercy.  
  
"All right, Lily?"  
  
Lily looked at Peter sleepily for a moment. "How's that?"  
  
"I asked if you were all right. You look funnyish, Lily."  
  
"Oh, just thinking- Do you reckon You-Know-Who is as powerful as everyone seems to think?" Lily, coming from a Muggle family, hadn't known at first to not call Voldemort by his proper name, but just the utterance could frighten an entire stadium of full grown wizards senseless.  
  
"If what my parents say is true, then I think we ought to start building fall-out shelters. Voldemort is even more powerful than the Ministry seems to want to believe." James added a gentle squeeze to Lily's shoulders. James Potter was the only person, besides Headmaster Albus Dumbledore, whom Lily had ever heard speak the proper name and he refused to be hushed about it. People soon came to realize that if they didn't want to hear the name, they best not discuss certain things with James.  
  
He got it from his parents, being Aurors, after all. In most families where an Auror lived, it was usually the father, although the Potters were both members of that specific organization. No one seemed uncomfortable with the fact that Mrs. Potter put her life on the line daily. The Potters were special and everyone knew it, but no one seemed to understand why. They were very dedicated to defeating Voldemort, resulting in near-death experiences on many occasions. Voldemort, after all, was the most horrid and powerful wizard since Mancolem Lich Cacinn of ninety years ago.  
  
Lily looked up at James. "Oh, I hope they're wrong."  
  
The train began to slow to a halt, signalling the arrival at Hogsmede Station. James stood and began to take luggage off of the over head racks.  
  
"You ready, Lil?" James asked, smiling.  
  
"Oh, yeah-" For a fleeting moment Lily's hand reached for her pocket but decided against it. Her Head Girl badge remained safely tucked away in her robes. She had noticed James hadn't put _his_ badge on, but Lily wasn't even sure James had been made Head Boy. He hadn't actually said anything.  
  
Lily suddenly felt horrible. Since their third year it was their goal to become Head Boy and Girl together. Had she been made one and not James?  
  
"Hurry up, Lily!" Sirius said impatiently from the door way. "They're all waiting for you outside the train, so quit being so spacey."  
  
"Sirius? Has James said anything to you lately?" Lily asked, dragging her trunk out from benethe her bench.  
  
He looked uncomfortable. "Like what?"  
  
"Has he told you anything?" She repeated, gazing at his akward response. "Anything about becoming Head Boy?"  
  
Sirius appeared strangely relieved. "Oh! Uh... is Jamie Head Boy, now?"  
  
"I don't know, that's why I asked. He didn't mention it at all!" She felt guilty. "I'd hate to be Head Girl if he's not Head Boy! It'd be like breaking a promise, Sirius!"  
  
Sirius laughed, which made Lily furious. "Do you think, I mean _honestly believe_ that Jamie would be offended if you were selected and not him? I'd think he'd be proud of you! That's all."  
  
Another misinterpretation Lily had made of James just that day. She felt like a fool.  
  
"Alright... Help me with my trunk?"  
  
Once they had joined James, Remus, Peter, and Verissa outside the Hogwarts Express, the six students trooped up a slightly sloping hill to a band of crickety, old, and weather-beaten carriages, drawn up by an invisible force. Although the force made no sound, from the distinct smell of wet straw Lily had the strong impression that the carriages were pulled by transparent horses.  
  
They crammed themselves into the carriages, which comfortably seated four, and allowed their things to be taken up to the school, a rather large and stunning castle, seperately.  
  
"It gets grander every year." Verissa proclaimed as they moved forward steadily. "I don't know what I'll do when I leave Hogwarts..."  
  
"I do." Peter said flatly. "I'm going to join some powerful company, work my way to the top, and become head-honcho!"  
  
"The only thing you'll ever be, Wormtail, is a gopher. You know that!" James laughed.  
  
"Well, I can try, can't I?"  
  
"Sure, why not? Have at it, I say! We're behind you one-hundred-tewelve-point-six-seven percent, but no more than that, mind you." Sirius said and gave Peter a hearty slap on the back.  
  
"Ouch!"  
  
"Alright there, Remus?" Lily asked, watching the boy grow weary and pale.  
  
He started. "Huh? Oh, yes, yes. Quite. Just tired, I reckon." Remus did indeed look sleep-deprived, as he had dark sacks benethe his eyes. Lily watched him turn his attention back out the window and to the night sky.  
  
The carriages halted and the students piled into the schools grand entrance way. The Great Hall was adorned with five tables and several sets of colours; Red with Gold, Blue with Bronze, Yellow with Black, and Green with Silver. Four of the tables ran vertically parallel with the walls, while the fifth, the teacher's table, stood at the far end, facing horizontially. Behind the table was a large banner with a lion, eagle, badger, and snake entwining a golden letter 'H'.  
  
Lily and the others said their goodbyes to Verissa as she took her seat with the Ravenclaws. The gang sat at their usual seats at the Gryffindor tables benethe masses of large, floating candles, under the endhanted ceiling (bewitched to resemble the real night sky). A scattered bit of excited chatter errupted and Lily felt warm. Her Alma Mater, home away from home.  
  
The doors to the Hall opened once more and in walked Professor McGonagall, transfigurations teacher and Head of Gryffindor House. Behind her trotted thirty or so nervous ten- and eleven-year-olds. Lily could hardly believe she had ever been quite so small as they whom stood before her. Her first year seemed so long ago.  
  
Professor McGonagall set a tri-legged stool in the center of the Hall and upon it sat a pile of ragedy old scrap-cloth. The Sorting Hat.  
  
In her strict and clear voice, the Professor instructed the first years to sit on the stool where their names were called and place the Hat on their heads. The Sorting Hat would decide which house (Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff) they would spend the next seven years of their schooling. Lily clapped as each student was sorted, while the guys only clapped for the newest Gryffindors (and 'boo'ed the new Slytherins).  
  
When the first years had been sorted and the stool removed, Headmaster Dumbledore stood to speak.  
  
"I welcome you all as you return to Hogwarts for another eventful year of education!" He grinned wisely and his half moon spectacle caught the light. "And welcome, first years, to the first day of your new lives. Please take note that the Forbidden Forest is off limits, as is badgering the Whomping Willow. The tree is very sensitive." He added a meaningful look to the young Professor Sprout beside him. The witch nodded curtly in agreement. "Now, before I think of anything else to bore you with, let us eat!"  
  
Lily liked Professor Dumbledore, he was like the commical grandfather she never had.  
  
Sirius picked up his fork as plates of food piled high appeared. "Dig in!"  
  
When they had indeed eaten all their stomachs would allow them to, the Headmaster stood again. "Please, I ask your attention once more. Before we head off to slumber, would the Head Boy and Head Girl be so kind as to lead the school in singing _Hogwarts Forever_?" The other teachers instantly plastered fake smiles to their faces.  
  
Lily felt her ears go pink. Sing infront of the school? Not wanting to disappoint Albus, she nodded and stood, looking widly around the room for the Head Boy. There was a rustle of robes behind her.  
  
"James!" She gasped. "Why didn't you _tell_ me you were Head Boy?"  
  
James shrugged. "Probably the same reason _you_ didn't tell _me_ you were Head Girl."  
  
She smiled. "Fair enough."  
  
James turned to the school and said, "Now, everyone, pick your favorite tune!" Lily raised her wand and directed it in the air, causing the words to form above the students.  
  
_Hogwarts, Hogwarts, hoggy-warty-Hogwarts..._  
  
Lily smiled to herself. It had been a good day afterall.   
  


**~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~**

  
  
Thanks to my reviewers!   
  
Gracious Presence: Thank you! Writing and drawing happen to be my best skills. I have never been told my writing 'flows' before, though! I did read a story of yours, how is it going?  
  
Lauryn: Thanks! I will continue until I am finished, but I have a job now and they like working me long hours...  
  
SlinkiMalinki: Thank you for thanking me for thanking you! Nothing TRUELY exciting will happen until a little later in the story, so not much happens next, but I garantee SOMETHING will happen! (Has Lily done something wrong? YOU be the judge!)  
  
Oliverwoodschic: Like the name and thank you! PLease keep reading!  
  
Fi: I'm glad you like it. :) Thanks for that tip. I, not having any true British heritage for thirteen generations, knew near nothing about Bonfire Night, except they mentioned it in the first book. I guess I assumed it was in the summer time. :) If you go back, I have changed 'Bonfire Night' to 'Mum's birthday'. Will that work? (Thanks for the info!)   
  
**Please email me! Slytherin_Angel@MostlySunny.com**


	4. Remus and Genetics

**Until Death Do Us Part**  
_  
Harry Potter theme and related characters are property of J.K. Rowling. Plot idea is accredited to the original author, J.K.Rowling. Plot angle and revisions idea of Melissa Pomeroy. Character Verissa Station (name borrowed with permission from an aquaintence) property of Meisako Pyoko-Chan (Melissa Pomeroy), 2002. Any and all reviews appriaciated._ **

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

**  
_chapter **FOUR**_: Remus and Genetics  


*****  
Welcome to my version of 'life before Harry'. This is the story of James, Lily, and the gang in their seventh year of Hogwarts to the begining of the Harry Potter series as we know it... Please read my rendition of Harry's fifth year, Harry Potter and the Fallen Angel at Hogwarts (complete), and his sixth year, Harry Potter and the Children's Crusades (work in progress).   
****  


  
"It's called as Punnett Square - a Muggle idea - used to detirmine the genetic make-up of offspring of two genotypes." Professor Diov said excitedly as if it were the most thrilling peice of news she had the joy of giving notes on. "The Square goes like this..." The Magigenetics teacher drew a tic-tac-toe grid on the blackboard, writing a few well-chosen letters across the top and down the side.  
  
A sudden scratch of quills and the shuffle of parchment filled the small classroom as the students rushed to copy down the information. Lily sat amongst them in the darkened room and feverishly copied her own notes. It was the first day of school, and thankfully the last class. She had decided that this year she would take an advanced class, one offered to only seventh years.  
  
And just Lily's luck, too.  
  
Lily shared this class with none other than Severus Snape. Snape seemed very interested in this particular subject and had already copied down three roles of parchment with information. He seemed completely oblivious that there were any other students than himself in the class. It was unnerving to see him so involved in anything.  
  
"We'll spend a good first half of the year learning about Punnett Square, then move on to Magi-Pun Squares, followed then by memorizing a few curse genotypes. Curses can be inherited, you realize." Professor Diov contiuned with notes for another hour before giving out their assignment ("use a homozygous recessive and homozygous dominant pea plant to find the possible phenotypes"). Lily found it very easy and much like the multiplication tables she had learned in second grade.  
  
She late found James heading back to the Gryffindor tower from his Muggle Studies class and hurried to join him.  
  
"How's the first day back?" Their fingers interlocked gently.  
  
"Dandy, I suppose, but we've got Potions with Slytherin." James mumbled.  
  
"Gryffindor and Slytherin are _always_ paired for Potions. Professor Agaretch prefers it that way." said Lily. "At least you've only got one class with them. I've Magigenetics with Snape."  
  
"Poor baby." said James, bringing Lily's hand to his mouth to kiss it.  
  
"I'm not a baby." She said firmly before gigling. James was now kissing up her arm.  
  
"Gross! Get a room!" Sirius was making gaging faces just ahead of them.  
  
"Hardy har har har." said Lily, sticking her tongue out at him.  
  
"Ooh, real mature, _Lilian_." Sirius replied.  
  
"How many times must I tell you? It's _Lily Anne_, not _Lilian_."  
  
James interviened. "Whoa, now!" Please, _ladies_, take it outside!"  
  
Sirius playfully lunged at James and the two wrestled themselves to the ground. "Take that back!"  
  
Lily looked down the hall. "Where are the other two _pillagers_?"  
  
"_Marauders_, dearest, we prefer to be called _Marauders_." James huffed as he breifly pinned Sirius. "'S got a nicer ring to it."  
  
"They mean the same - any way, where are Remus and Peter at?"  
  
The scuffling stopped and the two boys looked up at her.  
  
"I think Peter's in the library and Remus..." Sirius shot James a strange look.  
  
"Remus... uh, he was called away. Think his mum's sick." said James.  
  
"Oh!" said Lily. "But he only just arrived!" She shook her head. "She gets sick near as often as Remus does, I wonder if it's some genetic disease? Ooh! I'll try a Punnett Square! First I'll have to identify the diease and the genotype and then cross it with a homozygous recessive..." Lily's voiced trailed off as she began muttered to herself, heading toward the library, leaving behind two very bewildered Gryffindors.  
  
It was now a week before Halloween, the Quidditch season had begun, Remus had returned only to become sick himself, and Lily was no where near to finding the disease Remus and Mrs. Lupin had. The symptoms pointed to no such inherited disease.  
  
Lily and Verissa seemed the only ones concerned with Remus and his mother's condition. Even Professor Dumbledore had said to put it out of their minds. The two girls sat quietly in the library one evening, pouring into a pile of books.  
  
"That's not it either." Lily slammed her book clsed. "I think I'll just ask him."  
  
Verissa nodded her cherry-white head. "That might be best, but I don't think he'll be too fond of us, you know, nosing into his personaly life and everything."  
  
"I quite agree."  
  
Lily and Verissa started.  
  
"If Remus wanted you to know, he would have told you already." Peter had suddenly appeared from behind a book shelf. "If you value his friendship, you'll just drop it. Believe me. He'll tell you if he wants you to know." Peter stared at the girls with his peircing black and beady eyes before walking out.  
  
"Um, I'd better go-" Verissa picked up her things and scrambled away.  
  
Lily was alone, feeling horrible as ever.   
  


**~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~**

  
  
Sorry it took me so long! I've been busy with work and school. But I've got the flu today, so i have Iime to type!  
  
SeaS: James has his reasons for acting the way he does. :)   
  
**Please email me! Slytherin_Angel@MostlySunny.com**


	5. Strawberries

**Until Death Do Us Part**  
_  
Harry Potter theme and related characters are property of J.K. Rowling. Plot idea is accredited to the original author, J.K.Rowling. Plot angle and revisions idea of Melissa Pomeroy. Character Verissa Station (name borrowed with permission from an aquaintence) property of Meisako Pyoko-Chan (Melissa Pomeroy), 2002. Any and all reviews appriaciated._ **

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

**  
_chapter **FIVE**_: Strawberries  


*****  
Welcome to my version of 'life before Harry'. This is the story of James, Lily, and the gang in their seventh year of Hogwarts to the begining of the Harry Potter series as we know it... Please read my rendition of Harry's fifth year, Harry Potter and the Fallen Angel at Hogwarts (complete), and his sixth year, Harry Potter and the Children's Crusades (work in progress).   
****  


  
Lily rubbed her eyes sleepily and looked at her watch. Two-thirteen in the morning. She lazily closed her Potions book and stood to leave the common room and retire to bed. As she made her way up the stairs she heard voices in the common room.  
  
Confused, Lily turned back down the steps.  
  
"Who's there?"  
  
The voices hushed and the sound of muffled feet ceased.  
  
"I asked, 'Who is there?' Show yourself!" It remained quiet. "Head Girl of this school demands you return to your beds immediately before I get angry."  
  
There was a distant whisper.   
  
"_Lumos_." she finally muttered and shewed it around the room. There was no one there. Lily's heart began to pound wildly. "He-hello?" There was a forbodding sense about the room and Lily didn't like it one bit. Telling herself it was just Peeves the Poltergeist, trying to give her a fright, she extinguished her wand and turned back up the stairs. As she reached the door to her dormitory, Lily heard the distinct sound of the common room door open and close. Furious at herself for letting them get out, LIly told herself that students out of bounds was not her problem. It was the delinquents' who were out sneaking off.  
  
Lily woke the next morning to the angry shouts of Professor McGonagall downstairs in the common room. She pulled open the curtain around her four post and stuck her head out.  
  
"What's going on?" said Evelyn Keir sleepily from across the room.  
  
"Shh!" Analisa Jones whishpered. She had her ear pressed against the door. "Some one is being chewed out-- out late last night-- wandering halls--"  
  
"Oooh!" said Lily in an irritated voice. "I tried to get them to bed!" She threw on her Hogwarts robes quickly and swept past Analisa and down the stairs.  
  
"...should have known better! I can't bring myself to believe that you, of all people, would be out at such an insane hour! I am deeply disappointed, all three of you... Detention tonight. I will discuss the details with you later."  
  
Lily appeared at the bottom of the steps to see McGonagall's emerald robes flow out of the room.  
  
"You!" said Lily when she saw the persons accountable.  
  
James smiled sheepishly. "Morning, Lily-dear. Sleep well?"  
  
"Oh James... You're Head Boy... I can't believe tha-"  
  
"Lily!" Sirius interrupted. "It was my fault. I talked Jamie and Peter into coming with me- I wanted to sneak into the Slytherin common rooms." Sirius looked at his friends intently.  
  
Lily opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out. Finally she shook her head. "You realize you may have just cost Gryffindor the House Cup? I'll expect you to make these points up."  
  
All three hung their heads in shame.  
  
"Sorry..."  
  
"Yes, dear..."  
  
"Yes, mother..."  
  
Lily rolled her eyes at Sirius's remark. "I reckon you haven't eaten breakfast yet? Famished, I would assume?" She took James's hand. "Let's go eat, and you can tell me all about your adventures- although I'm certainly not pleased with you..." She gave a meaningful look to James, who smiled at her.  
  
"Of course not! Dare to think such a thing!"  
  
In the Great Hall, they found Remus sitting at the Gryffindor table, sleepily prodding his scrambled eggs. "Morning..."  
  
"When did you get in, Moony?" Peter said as he took a seat beside the pale-looking boy.  
  
"Just a few minutes ago- Strawberries?" He handed Lily the bowl, which she accepted and piled strawberry slices onto her porrige.  
  
"Thank you. Are you feeling better?" Lily added cream.   
  
Remus nodded with a smile. "Very much so."  
  
"You missed out last night, Moony!" Remus looked sharply at the dark haired boy. "We nearly found the Slytherin common rooms!" Sirius looked as though he had something in his eye.  
  
"Do tell!"  
  
James leaned over Lily and took an apple from a bowl. "Well, we _think_ we nearly found them. It could have very well been Hufflepuff, or some old classroom for all we know!"  
  
Lily had to laugh. "And we lost all of those points, too!"  
  
"You should join us at night, sometime, Lily." Peter said. The other boys looked at him. "What?" Lily noticed their faces and her heart sank.  
  
"Oh, no, it's all right. If you don't want me to hang around you at 'guy time', I'll just stay in the common room."  
  
"Lil! Don't be like that, please. Join us tonight?" James took her hand.  
  
"Only if I'm not intruding..."  
  
"Then it's settled!"  
  
Verissa approached in a huffy manner. "Good morning, gentlemen, Lily- Do you know what that _git_ just did to me?" Tears were swelling in her eyes. "He called me a 'Muggle loving-" she whispered the rest into Lily's ears before bursting into heavy sobs.  
  
"He _didn't_! What a fowl person!" Lily fumed.  
  
Verissa nodded. "I was just sitting at my table, eating my porrige when he knocked into me. He turned around and told me off for being in the way!"  
  
"But you were sitting, right?" Remus's brow furrowed. "Snape walked into you! Of all the stupid things-"  
  
Verissa rubbed her nose with the back of her hand. "Then he just said that horrid thing, _to my face_, and infront of all the other Ravenclaws, too!"  
  
"Oh, Vera!" Lily embraced her friend gently. "I'll talk with Professor Dumbledore about it later, alright? Right now, you'd better go finish breakfast before first period starts."  
  
Verissa nodded and slowly retreated to her table and began to finish her porrige.  
  
"Snape is such a jerk-"  
  
"Moony?"  
  
"Well, he _is_, James! I hate him! I wish that you hadn't saved him that nigh-" Remus closed his mouth abruptly and glanced at Lily. She was trying to appear as though she hadn't heard what he just said, but it was kind of difficult. James saved Severus? When?  
  
A scream from the other side of the room jolted Lily from her thoughts. Some one was yelling for help.  
  
"_Verissa, Verissa!_ Oh, some one get Madam Pomfrey! Verissa! Speak to me!" A short blonde Ravenclaw girl was shaking Verissa wildly.  
  
The Marauders and Lily looked around the room. Verissa was clutching her throat and turning a rather nasty shade of purple.  
  
"Rissa!" Remus jumped onto the table very undeftly and across the room. He took the girl into his arms and shook her. "Rissa! Say something..." Verissa Station didn't reply, only gasped for breath. Remus muttered something profane and lifted her off her chair and rushed out of the room.  
  
The entire Hall was silent momentarily, then errupted into excited talking.  
  
"Did you see that?"  
  
"That boy just picked her up and ran-"  
  
"What happened to her, anyway?"  
  
Lily looked up at James, who looked equally frightened. "What just happened?!"  
  
"I'll find out, sit tight." Sirius got up from his seat and walked over to the short blonde girl from Ravenclaw. Lily sat with her eyes fixed on her spoon, lip trembling.  
  
Siriyus returned shortly, shaking his head. "Wendy doesn't know what happened. She said Verissa was just eating her starwberry porrige when she started spazing out."  
  
She narrowed her eyes. "_Strawberry_ porrige?" Sirius nodded. "She's allergic to strawberries! I have to see Madam Pomfrey!"  
  
"Wait!" James called after his girlfriend but she had already dashed out of the room.  
  
Lily's pounding heart echoed in her throat as she rounded the corner and skidded into the Infirmiry. Madam Pomfrey was bent over Verissa and Remus was watching anxiously as he paced back and forth.  
  
"She... ate... strawberries..." Lily panted. Madam Pomfrey looked up at her confused.  
  
"What, dear?" The nurse had persperation on her forehead.  
  
"She's... allergic! The vial... around... her neck!" Lily gulped and walked over to Verissa, rather bowleggedly. She pulled off the girl's necklace and took the stopper out of the bottle which hung there. She had remembered Verissa telling her about the antidote once. She used the information for an Potions essay last year.  
  
Lily bit her lip and tilted Verissa's lifeless head. She tipped the contents of the bottle into her friend's mouth. Silently she prayed that it worked...  
  
"If this doesn't work, we've lost her." Madam Pomfrey said slowly. "I've already tried to reduce the swelling in her throat with a charm- it didn't work..."  
  
Remus came to stand beside Lily. No one said anything for the longest time, what seemed like eternity, but was mere seconds. James, Sirius, and Peter's feet echoed in the hall as they entered the room. No one even breathed. Remus cracked.  
  
"Verissa! Wake up!" He shook her.  
  
"Mr. Lupin, please!" The nurse tried to pull Remus away put he shurgged her off.  
  
"Verissa!" He placed his mouth firmly on the Ravenclaw's lips. Lily gasped, thinking Remus was giving up on her and giving her a goodbye kiss. Then it hit her. Mouth to mouth resesitation. She, like everyone else in the room, held her breath.  
  
With the acute sound of a vacuum becoming unclogged, Verissa breathed and her eyes opened wide. Remus pulled up reluctantly and looked at her.  
  
"Are you alright?"  
  
She nodded slowly and smiled at him. "Thank you," she managed.  
  
Lily let out a dry sob and smiled. "Oh Vera!" She lunged to hug her friend but Madam Pomfrey caught her.  
  
"Now dear- Let Ms. Station rest some, alright? Come visit her later." SHe set Lily straight. "Now out! All of you!" She shooed them out, but left Remus, as he had taken a chair next to Verissa and they now sat, looking into each other's eyes and holding hands.  
  
"How cute!" fussed Lily as James walked her to Runes. "I think they're wonderful together!"  
  
"We'll see." said Sirius, slightly behind them.  
  
"Oh, go get a girlfriend, Sirus!" Lily dismissed his comment with the wave of a hand.  
  
"Whatever-" Sirius rolled his eyes and suddenly turned a corner, Peter following.  
  
James looked after them.  
  
"Did I say something wrong?" Lily asked.  
  
"Erm... not exactly. But there are just somethings you don't know." James kissed Lily on the cheek. "Later." Before she could respond, he left her at her classroom.  
  
"Well, I wish I _did_ know- If only some one would _tell_ me..." she muttered under her breath and entered the room.   
  


**~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~**

  
  
Sorry it took me so long, and yes, that 'shewed' up there is spelled correctly!  
  
kasey: Alright! I've written more! Happy?  
  
SeaS: I just learned about genetics in school and thought that I could use that for my story. Genetics will play more of a role MUCH later! :)   
  
**Please email me! Slytherin_Angel@MostlySunny.com**


	6. She Didn't Know Any Better

**Until Death Do Us Part**  
_  
Harry Potter theme and related characters are property of J.K. Rowling. Plot idea is accredited to the original author, J.K.Rowling. Plot angle and revisions idea of Melissa Pomeroy. Character Verissa Station (name borrowed with permission from an aquaintence) property of Meisako Pyoko-Chan (Melissa Pomeroy), 2002. Any and all reviews appriaciated._ **

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

**  
_chapter **SIX**_: She Didn't Know Any Better  


*****  
Welcome to my version of 'life before Harry'. This is the story of James, Lily, and the gang in their seventh year of Hogwarts to the begining of the Harry Potter series as we know it... Please read my rendition of Harry's fifth year, Harry Potter and the Fallen Angel at Hogwarts (complete), and his sixth year, Harry Potter and the Children's Crusades (work in progress).   
****  


  
Lily got the feeling that Sirius was trying to avoid her. During lunch, in Potions, Transfigurations, and Charms, even until supper, Sirius refrained from speaking to her and never made eye contact, although she tried on several occasions. It was very frusterating. Perhaps Lily wasn't the only one who noticed. James and Peter also tried to make deliberate conversations between the two, but each attempt failed miserabley.  
  
"Sirius, if it's about that girlfriend crack- you know I was only joking, right?" Sirius acted as though Lily weren't there and made no acknowledgement that she had even spoken.  
  
"Padfoot, just get off your high horse and talk to her... she didn't mean any harm. You _know_ that." James was getting just as irritated as Lily, but it wasn't until Peter had a word with Sirius did anything change.  
  
"Look, _Padfoot_. Lily _didn't_ know, alright? Now just get over it." There was a tone in his voice that indicated there was something deeper in his meaning. Something in the stern manner of which he spoke.  
  
Sirius looked at Lily out of the corner of his eye. With a sigh, he nodded. "I'm sorry, Lily. I've been a jerk, but I'm still upset with you."  
  
Lily clentched her teeth and nodded. it was a start.  
  
"Moony?" said James as Remus walked in the common room that evening. "Where have you been?"  
  
Remus looked up, suddenly realizing they were there. "Huh? Oh! Hi guys! Just been walking with Verissa." Despite his cheeriness, his friends, with the exception of Lily, didn't look all that pleased.  
  
"That's lovely, Remus! How is she, by the way?" Remus pulled up a wooden chair and sat next to Lily.  
  
"She's fine. She thinks some one spilled the strawberries in her bowl while they were passing it along the table. I, however," Remus leaned in and spoke in almost a whisper, "suspect foul play. That Snape has always had it in for her... I think we should investigate tonight."  
  
However displeased they were, all four Maraurders' eyes gleamed with excitement. "Tonight then," said James.  
  
Lily shook her head. "You've detention tonight, remember? That's the reason I couldn't join your pillaging tonight, in the first place." She pursed her lips and Peter groaned loudly.  
  
"I completely forgot! What is that old bat having us do, anyways?"  
  
"Moping the Great Hall..." said James.  
  
Peter began to pound his head onto the table they were sitting around.  
  
"Oi! Stop that, now, Wormtail! You need all the brain cells you've got left!" Sirius grabbed Peter's shoulder to prevent his head from making contact with the furniture.  
  
An hour later, the three rule offenders left to serve their detention, leaving Lily and Remus alone.  
  
"So..." Lily began slyly.  
  
"So what?"  
  
"Have you kissed yet?"  
  
Remus outright laughed. "_Kissed_? No, no. Verissa and I only decided today that '_there was something between us_', as Rissa put it." He smiled. "Thank you for your interest," he said in mock businesshood.  
  
She smiled, embarrassed. "Sorry. Do you, uh, really think Severus put the strawberries in her porrige? I think it sounds awfully imature, and if I know Severus at all," Remus frowned slightly, "he wouldn't do something like that. It's not his style."  
  
"Are you defending that git, _Lily_?" The new tension in his voice was threatening to break through his calm facade.  
  
"N-no... I just think Verissa's version seems more plausable, that's all."  
  
"You have _no idea_ what he is capable of, Lily. No idea. He's a slimey, greasy git, with no heart what-so-ever. He cares about no one but himself and would do anything in his power to hurt someone. _Anything in his power._" Remus stood from the table. "Now, if you'll escuse me, I've got homework to catch up on."  
  
"I can help," Lily offered.  
  
"No. No, I'll manage." Without another word, Remus left her alone. Lily could feel the heat of the eyes of other people in the room on her.  
  
She wasn't sure what she had done wrong this time, but she was rapidly loosing friends. First Sirius, now Remus. What was wrong with her? She hurried up to her room and threw herself onto her bed. Analisa and Evelyn looked up but didn't say anything to her.  
  
With a great sigh, Lily pulled off her shoes and crawled under the covers, wishing to take back whatever she had said to anger Remus. Was it beacuse she had always believed a little good to be in a person that her friend destested her so? Detirmined not to mull it over, Lily went to sleep.  
  
Her eyes were thick with tiredness as Evelyn shook her awake the next morning. She muttered something in her pillow and rolled over. Evelyn tried again.  
  
"Lily. You need to get up. One of the twins has got her head stuck in the banister..."  
  
Grumbling, Lily pulled herself out of bed. "Mac Kenzie or Madison?" Mac Kenzie was afraid of wands near her face, a strange reflex that would prevent Lily from banishing the railing around her head away.  
  
"I never could tell..." Evelyn bit her lip.  
  
"Okay, here I come to save the day." On the stairway, wand in hand, Lily squated down and poked the girl in the shoulder. "Now, which Lohman have we got here, huh?"  
  
"Madison." The third year replied. "I'm stuck."  
  
"I can see that. Care to tell me how this happened?" She raised her wand and knocked one rung away, enough for her head to squeeze through.  
  
"Not really... must I?" Madison pulled her head out and rubbed her ears.  
  
"No, that's alright. Go on." The blonde stood quickly and dashed down the stairs where her sister was waiting.  
  
Lily went back to her room to shower and change into fresh robes. It wasn't until she saw Remus speaking with Peter that she realized what had transpired the night before.  
  
"Morning, Remus."  
  
"Hi," he said curtly and turned back to Peter.  
  
"Fine," she sighed in defeat, "I'll just go find Vera. Tell James I've gone on ahead to breakfast."  
  
Pure and utter loneliness moored over Lily as she walked briskly down the corridor. Perhaps it would be better if she just never spoke ever again. Starting.... NOW. Once in her seat at the Gryffindor table, she began to nibble at her toast. For some reason, she wasn't hungry. Verissa noticed and walked over to her.  
  
"Morning!" Her voice was extremely cheerful. Lily nodded a greeting.  
  
"Are you alright?" Verissa furrowed her brows. Lily shrugged. "Going to tell me what's wrong?"  
  
She shook her head. "I'll tickle it out of you..." Verissa threatened.  
  
"No... that's alright!" She hated to break her new fond vow of silence, but she hated to be tickled even more. "I said something last night and now Remus is upset with me."  
  
"Oh." Lily couldn't read the Ravenclaw's face. Was she worried? Or was that anger?  
  
"Have you noticed anything strange? I mean, besides the usual strange occurances?"  
  
"No. Remus is just sensitive, that's all." Verissa's lips were clentched tightly together.  
  
"Oh, please don't do that to me... You have no clue what I've been through these past couple days. My head is simply swimming." Verissa's expression softened and she nodded. "Alright, here's what has been happening. I thought Sirius was jealous of remus and you. He got mad. I told Remus I didn't think Severus slipped strawberries into your porrige. _He_ got mad."  
  
Verissa nodded. "_That_ I agree with. It sure is an evil thing to do, but it's not in his nature. He'd more likely slip a hate potion into my food."  
  
Lily's eyes widened. "Do you think he did? I mean, a hate potion in Remus's or Sirius's breakfast?"  
  
She pondered it for a moment. "Could be... but Remus was nice to me..."  
  
"Will you help me find an antidote, anyway?"  
  
"Absolutely. I'll meet you in the library after fourth period." She and Lily shook hands in a business like manner.  
  
When the guys came in for breakfast, Lily was extra careful to be polite and not touch any sensitive nerves.   
  
They all looked at her as though she had been knocked off her nut.   
  


**~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~**

  
  
I have a perfectly good explaination... Really, I do! I can't write just to write. If I'm not inspired then it is most likely that you guys wont like it. So... there!  
  
QueenofTheQueer: Thank you! I'm happy you like it.  
  
Amy: Alright, here's more!  
  
ThistleMeg: I don't know why you never saw that it had been updated, but right now I am getting the feeling that that was a rhetorical question... huh? Yeah, you bet it's frusterating! Heck, I'm frusterated!  
  
MinaPotter: It's not because Lily told him to get a girlfriend, it's because he doesn't think Remus and Verissa will work out because of a certain secret Our dear Messr. Moony has...  
  
GoldenFawkes: I know! i hate those love/hate fics... :( I'm very excited that you think my fic is well written. I plan to be a novelist one day, so this is just practice! Thanks for putting me on your list! I'm going to check out _you_ stories and perhaps i'll do the same!  
  
Slycat: You know I love ya! Yeah. in the first chapter (or maybe it was the second) it says that Verissa is allergic to strawberries. A bit of foreshadowing, I think. :) Yeah. Our dear Lupin has finally gotten a girlfriend. But will it last? You be the judge! (although I do think they are deeply in love -- which wont show yet...)   
  
**Please email me! Slytherin_Angel@MostlySunny.com**


	7. No More Miss Nice-Girl

**Until Death Do Us Part**  
_  
Harry Potter theme and related characters are property of J.K. Rowling. Plot idea is accredited to the original author, J.K.Rowling. Plot angle and revisions idea of Melissa Pomeroy. Character Verissa Station (name borrowed with permission from an aquaintence) property of Meisako Pyoko-Chan (Melissa Pomeroy), 2002. Any and all reviews appriaciated._ **

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**  
_chapter **SEVEN**_: No More MIss Nice-Girl  


*****  
Welcome to my version of 'life before Harry'. This is the story of James, Lily, and the gang in their seventh year of Hogwarts to the begining of the Harry Potter series as we know it... Please read my rendition of Harry's fifth year, Harry Potter and the Fallen Angel at Hogwarts (complete), and his sixth year, Harry Potter and the Children's Crusades (work in progress).   
****  
Apparently, I've been informed that Lily Evans is _too_ nice. Well. Not any more...  
****  
  


Hogsmeade Weekend.  
  
_Halloween._  
  
Finally. An antidote.  
  
It had taken them the entire week to find and concoct the potion, but Lily and Verissa had done it. They had successfully produced a thick yellow solution which would reverse the effects of a Hate Potion.  
  
"But... what will happen if they drink this stuff and they weren't under the influence of a Hate Potion?" As Verissa highly suspected.  
  
"I don't know. The book didn't say."  
  
"Shouldn't we ask Professor Argetch?"  
  
"And let him know we had to sneak into _his_ storeroom to get three of the ingredients? Highly expensive ingredients, mind you?" Lily poured the potion into a vile and stuck it in her rucksack. "Alright. We'll get the guys into the Three Broomsticks... I'll order a round of butterbeer and slip some of our potion into their drinks."  
  
Verissa was biting her lip slightly. "Okay, okay. Where are they meeting us?"  
  
"Front entrance."  
  
James smiled as Lily and Verissa approached. From the way Remus and Sirius turned their backs to her, Lily assumed they were still upset.  
  
"Ready?" James took her hand.  
  
"Yeah. What do you say I buy everyone a round of butterbeer at the Three Broomsticks?" Lily looked at the others hopefully.  
  
A small smile was begining on Sirius's face. "Alright, I'm game!"  
  
"Yeah, that'd be nice, _wouldn't it, Remus_?" Peter elbowed Remus violently in the gut.  
  
"Sure."  
  
They walked down the sloping hill from Hogwarts grounds to the road below which would take them to the village of Hogsmeade. The air was a bit nippy, but no one complained. In fact, no one spoke at all. The tension was unbearablely thick about them. Lily would have said something to James but she was running her plan over and over in her head. _Get the butterbeers and pour the antipdote in Sirius' and Remus' drinks._ Lily's stomach was churning inside her. Maybe this wasn't a good idea after all...  
  
"Lily? Did you want to go to the Three Broomsticks or get some shopping in first?" said James.  
  
Lily looked at Remus's face. He still couldn't seem to look her in the eye. "The butterbeer first, is that alright with everyone?" They nodded in agreement.  
  
When they had all taken a seat around a table, which Verissa had made sure was out of view of the bar, Lily went up and ordered six tall, foaming glasses of warm butterbeer. After looking about to see that no one was watching her, Lily uncorked her vile and poured a few drops into two of the glasses.  
  
"Oh! Pardon me!" Lily turned around and apologized to the elderly witch who had tripped over her rucksack. "I'm so sorry! Are you alright?"  
  
"Yes, dear. I'm fine, thank you." The witch smiled and continued out the door.  
  
Lily kicked the bag under the counter so it would be out of the way for a moment and made to put the glasses on a tray. She stopped. _Which were the two with the antidote_? "Crap..." she muttered under her breath. Silently praying that there were no strange side effects for drinking the antidote when not neccessary, she emptied the contents of the vile a little into each of the butterbeer.  
  
The antidote was tucked away safely in her rucksack, which was slung over one shoulder, and six tall glasses of butterbeer (a slightly orange color, now) collected on a tray was in her hands. "Butterbeer, all around!" Lily set the tray down and they all grabbed a glass. Verissa looked at hers oddly and glanced at Lily.  
  
With a strained expression, Lily silently explained, in a way which hopefully, no one else saw her, that each drink contained the potion. Verissa turned up her nose slitghly and pushed her drink away from her.  
  
"Something wrong, Rissa?" Remus placed his hand on hers.  
  
"No. I just had breakfast, that's all. D'you think I can get my butterbeer to go?"  
  
"I don't see why not," he paused and took a sip of his own. "Hmm." He peered into his glass. "Does this taste funny to anyone else?"  
  
James, Peter, and Sirius all brought their drinks to their lips and took a gulp.  
  
"A bit..." James was frowning.  
  
Peter was sputtering into his napkin while Sirius continued to chug.  
  
They all looked at him with perplexed expressions. "Ahh!" he said at last. "Really warms you up!"  
  
Peter looked like he could gag. "How can you..."  
  
Sirius shrugged. "Remember that time I tried to hex Snape and I missed? You know, the time it bounced off the mirror and hit me in the face?" Lily had no clue what he was talking about, but the guys all nodded. "Well, Madam Pomfrey says it will be a while before my tatses buds work properly..." Sirius's eyes got wide and he clentched his stomach. "Oooh!"  
  
James, Remus, and Peter were having similar reactions.  
  
"My stomach!"  
  
"I'm going to be sick!"  
  
"Someone get me a bucket!"  
  
Verissa was rubbing Remus's back and trying to comfort him. "Remus? Do you need a doct-" She screamed and clapped her hands over her mouth. "Remus! You've grown a tail!"  
  
People in the pub began to turn around to watch the commotion. Remus looked behind him and gave a strangled yelp, starring at his rear-end, where a large, fluffy grey canine-tail had burst through the seam of his robes.  
  
James, Sirius, and Peter were reacting in the same way with _their_ newly grown tails. Those in the Three Broomsticks watching were now having fits of laughter. Thouroughly upset, Remus grabbed his bag and rushed out of the pub.  
  
"Remus!" Verissa tossed Lily a nasty look as she gathered up her purse and followed after him.  
  
Lily was horrified. _This wasn't supposed to happen_. They were supposed to stop being mean... Not sprout _tails_! James and Peter pulled their cloaks over their behinds and hurried outside where Remus and Verissa were.  
  
Sirius, however, was having a different reaction. He was admiring his bushy black dog tail with great joy. "Will you look at that!" A sly grin spread across his face. "Suits me, don't you think, Lily?"  
  
Lily stood from the table and accidently knocked her stool over. "I'm sorry, Sirius!" she whispered hoarsly and ran outside, completely passing the others. She didn't stop running until she was at the Shreiking Shack and she only stopped there because she was entirely out of breath. She had wanted to keep running. Had wanted to run to the end of the road and up the mountain side, but she now needed to massage a stitch out of her side.  
  
Panting, James approached at a run. "Lily..." he huffed, "why... did you... run off... like that? If anything, I'd think... I'd be the one...running." He raised an eyebrow and wagged his light brown tail.  
  
Lily turned her head. "I'm sorry."  
  
"What? You mean... You mean _you_ did this?" He indicated to his tail.  
  
She nodded.  
  
"Why? Of all the ignorant things to do!"  
  
"Well excuse me!" Lily's face had gone red with fury. "I thought you guys had been influenced by a Hate Potion so I tried to reverse to effec-"  
  
"What would make you think a stupid thing like that? That Remus and Sirius were upset with you?" yelled James. Lily couldn't believe it. James was yelling at her.  
  
"Yes, that's why! They've never been mean to me like this before and I couldn't see why they would start now! It was a simple, honest mistake-"  
  
"They were upset because you said things to them that upset them. We've all been trying to ignore your little comments, but it just went too far!" he yelled. His face had gone all blotchy with red and purple. It was a scarey sight.  
  
"And why? Because I didn't know any better, right? Because I didn't know?!" Her lip trembled violently and she felt a rage boiling inside her. Peter, Verissa, Remus, and eventually Sirius had now appeared on the top of the hill. "Well, why doesn't someone just tell me? Huh! Just tell me already what it is that I've been missing out on!" She was screaming at him, pure anger billowing up in her gut.  
  
"You're obviously not trustworthy enough to tell. You just nearly poisoned me and my three best friends!"  
  
Of all the things in the world to say, Lily could think of nothing. Instead, she glared at James and shoved past him. When she walked by the others (Sirius was currently trying to chase his tail), they stared after her like she was some sort of strange new creature they had never before seen.  
  
"Lily," Peter started to say.  
  
"_Just leave me alone!_" Lily screamed in all her rage. Her voice was now hoarse and tears had escaped her eyes. She raced off down the hill and back up the next until she reached Hogwarts castle. Once inside, Lily stormed down the corridor.  
  
"Miss Evans? What's the matter?" Lily just ran past Professor McGonagall and into an empty classroom.  
  
She panted and heaved with gasps as she slouched to the floor. Everything was going wrong. Her life was ruined. It was all _their_ fault. If they had just told her their 'big secret' in the first place, none of this would have ever happened and she would be having the time of her life with her boyfriend and best buds. No. It was all over. They were all sure to hate her now. Even Verissa. Yes. Deffinately Verissa, too. Verissa knew the Hate Potion wasn't going to work on them. She had tried to tell that to Lily, but she was too stubborn to pay any heed to the warnings of true freinds. Now Lily was all alone.  
  
She heaved a heavy sob and craddled her head. Her clentched eyes were giving her a headache. Lily _was_ a horrible girlfriend. Horrible, awful, girlfriend! Lily was the worst person in the world!  
  
Eyes thick with tears, Lily wiped her face on her sleeve. She shouldn't be so hard on herself, she rationalized, after all, she was only trying to help. She had thought she was in the right. It was James' fault. And Sirius', Remus', and Peter's. They were the ones to blame. They were the ones who would pay for her misery. Lily bit her lip and blinked away fresh tears.  
  
"I am not going to cry any more. Not because of James," she said blantletly, "But that's not to say he wont cry because of me." Lily instantly began to formulate a plan of action in her mind.   
  


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Yiipe! Lily's pyschotic!  
  
Mr.P: No, actually, I didn't think she was too nice... I _did_, however, think she was turning a into a slight Mary-Sue... *shudder* Nice little bit of revenge... but I have no clue as to what she's going to do. I don't plan revenge... I plan wars.  
  
Amy: :) That's what my sister said!  
  
the Angelic Andria: You didn't review, but you read them, right? ^_^ LOL. I had a sudden burst of inspiration! So here I am... continuing....  
  
otak-nut44: Getting good? LOL. I thought it was getting corny! I mean, Hate Potion? Really? LOL. Glad someone likes it! I'm not really sure what fluff is... so I don't know how to avoid it! hehehee  
  
heehee: If you've read the third book, you should know what the boys are hiding. If you _haven't_ read Prisoner of Azkaban... this will be a spoiler. ^_^ Don't want to ruin PoA if you haven't read it!  
  
Peppermint: Thank you!   
  
**Please email me! Slytherin_Angel@MostlySunny.com**


	8. Opening Ceremonies

**Until Death Do Us Part**  
_  
Harry Potter theme and related characters are property of J.K. Rowling. Plot idea is accredited to the original author, J.K.Rowling. Plot angle and revisions idea of Melissa Pomeroy. Character Verissa Station (name borrowed with permission from an aquaintence) property of Meisako Pyoko-Chan (Melissa Pomeroy), 2002. Any and all reviews appriaciated._ **

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**  
_chapter **EIGHT**_: Opening Ceremonies  


*****  
Welcome to my version of 'life before Harry'. This is the story of James, Lily, and the gang in their seventh year of Hogwarts to the begining of the Harry Potter series as we know it... Please read my rendition of Harry's fifth year, Harry Potter and the Fallen Angel at Hogwarts (complete), and his sixth year, Harry Potter and the Children's Crusades (work in progress).   
****  
  


_Scritch, scratch_ sounded Lily's quill as it shuffled across the sheif of parchment. _"Mugglism, being a dominant trait, is reffered to as MM in Magi-Puns. When a dominant wizard, WW, is crossed with MM, the offspring become Ww rather than WM, being a wizard. In a case where MM is crossed with Ww, however, the offspring have a one in four chance of gaining Squalobolistis, otherwise known as Squibism."_  
  
Her hand was cramping and her fingers ached from strenuous Magigenetic note taking. Lily stole a glance over at Severus, who showed no sign of taking ill to the notes. He seemed quite detirmined, indeed, to know all there was to know about genetics of every kind.  
  
_Perfect._ Professor Diov handed out the assignment for the weekend and dismissed the class for the day. Lily slowly gathered her things and tucked them away in her rucksack. Severus was just about to leave. She needed to catch him first.  
  
"Erm... Severus?"  
  
Obviously taken off guard, Severus spun around. He scowled when their eyes met. "What is it, Mudblood?"  
  
"I just wanted to ask you something, that's all," she blurted, detirmined not to loose her nerve, "Have you got a moment?"  
  
Still glarring, he nodded, "Make it quick then."  
  
"Could you perhaps help me with this? I'm not sure I really understand what creates Squibism. I mean, it's a Muggle born and half blood crossed, right? But aren't there known wizards who contracted Squibism, comming from full wizarding backgrounds?"  
  
The tension in the Slytherin's face lifted a little. "You really don't understand? Quite simple, really," the aura about him eased and he actually cracked a smile, more from the fact that he knew something Lily didn't than anything, really.  
  
"So, can you help me?"  
  
He stood still for a moment, most likely thinking very hard, then said, "Yeah. I can help. I'm free tonight, if you are."  
  
"Great! We'll finalize plans at dinner tonight, all right?" Lily smiled, a genuine smile.   
  
"Sure. Tonight," Severus muttered, the coldness returning to his voice, and he turned, leaving the room.  
  
_Step one; Check._  
  
At dinner that night, James and the gang had removed themselves from their usual seats, leaving Lily to sit all by herself at the end of the Gryffindor table. She didn't mind. This only meant she'd have to walk past them. She could glare at them as she went, if she felt the urge.  
  
As Sirius was going on about his regular rantings and ravings, Lily was picking at her corned beef. She suddenly felt a shiver up her spine and looked up. Severus was starring at her from the door way. When their eyes met, he merely nodded.  
  
"Oh!" Lily quickly stood and brushed past Peter on her way to the door. The Maraurders all glanced up. She could feel them watching her.  
  
"Have you got the time and place set, Severus?" Lily asked as they stepped into the shadowy corridor.  
  
"Library, in one hour. You'd better be on time. I wont wait around for you," he said dryly, making his point clear.  
  
"I understand, and again, I just want to thank you for taking the time and-"  
  
"Enough, Evans, I'll be in the library in one hour." he turned and left.  
  
Smiling, Lily went back to her seat to finish her food. James' eyes followed her suspiciously. _Step two; Check._  
  
An hour passed sooner than anticipated and Lily had to run to get to the library on time. Severus was waiting at a small table ine a dark corner. _Figures_, she thought, _that Severus would want a place as far from civilized people as possible_.  
  
"I was about to leave, Evans. You nearly missed me."  
  
"Sorry," she apologized, "now, about those Magi-Puns..."  
  
As it turned out, she really _was_ lost on that subject. Lily was in complete awe at how much information Severus had restored in his brain.  
  
"Like this?"  
  
"No-" Severus took her quill from her hand and scracthed out her square, drawing a new one. A strange warmth hit Lily in the pit of her stomach and her eyes slid slightly out of focus as their hands touch breifly. "Like _this_."  
  
"Oh." She picked up the quill and started another Punnett square when Severus got stiff. "What is it?"  
  
"Do you get the feeling that some one is watching us?" he hissed out of the corner of his mouth. Come to think of it, Lily was a bit uneasy... She looked up and saw a pair of eyes peering at them from behind a shelf.  
  
"Sirius is spying on us," she whispered to Severus, leaning closer, "perhaps we should leave it here for tonight. Can I meet you here again, tomorrow?"  
  
Severus nodded, gathering his paper, leaving without another word. Truely, that guy was a mystery. Lily stacked her notes and inserted them into a binder before heading to Gryffindor Tower. She passed Sirius, but pretended she didn't see him.   
  


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Okay, so It's not much, but I thought that was a good place to leave off for the chapter. Can you kind of see what Lily is doing? No, it's not going to turn into a Lily and James love/hate, I hate those. And no, Lily and Severus will NOT fall in love... Lily's just getting mixxed feelings, that's all. Severus will still be his same, greasy, slimey, crude, Mudblood hating self. Just the way I like him!  
  
What Lily is doing right now, is trying to get the Maraurders to think she has a secret of her own, you know to get back at them for having a secret. Let's hoope it all works out in the end. :)   
  
**Please email me! Slytherin_Angel@MostlySunny.com**


	9. Begining Games

**Until Death Do Us Part**  
_  
Harry Potter theme and related characters are property of J.K. Rowling. Plot idea is accredited to the original author, J.K.Rowling. Plot angle and revisions idea of Melissa Pomeroy. Character Verissa Station (name borrowed with permission from an aquaintence) property of Meisako Pyoko-Chan (Melissa Pomeroy), 2002. Any and all reviews appriaciated._ **

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**  
_chapter **Nine**_: Begining Games  


*****  
Welcome to my version of 'life before Harry'. This is the story of James, Lily, and the gang in their seventh year of Hogwarts to the begining of the Harry Potter series as we know it... Please read my rendition of Harry's fifth year, Harry Potter and the Fallen Angel at Hogwarts (complete), and his sixth year, Harry Potter and the Children's Crusades (work in progress).   
****  
  


"What was that about?"  
  
Lily glanced up from her Magi-Genetics assignment and looked blankly into James' eyes. "I'm afraid I don't know what you mean."  
  
"You were assosiating with a Slytherin. I saw it, the guys saw it, heck! Practically the entire school saw you sneak off with him during dinner! And then Sirius here says he saw you and him whispering in the library. What's going on?" James folded his arms and stared her down. Lily began to feel tiny, but she couldn't let that get in her way.  
  
"I wasn't whispering, James, for your information. And it doesn't matter what is 'going on,' as you put it, because it's my life." Lily gathered her things and headed back to her dormitory, "Goodnight, gentlemen."  
  
Alone in her room, Lily sighed. It was so hard to lie to that boy, especially when he had eyes like he did. What was she thinking, anyway? She was to get a secret and make James suspicious. Was that it? Make him feel how she's felt? But that could take years and Lily didn't know if she could be angry with him for that long. She was already feeling empty inside without him and it had been, how long? Two weeks since the dreadful potion incident?  
  
Lily wanted to get her revenge, and be quick about it. Simple, but sweet. She dropped her books onto her bed and went to open her trunk. Clothes, books, silly string, parchment, spare quills, dungbombs, ink wells. Nothing useful in her current situation. Nothing! Wait- when did she pack dungbombs and silly string? That was mostly the guys' department. Lily picked them out and thought carefully about their different properties. Perhaps she should take a leif from the trusty Marauder notebook? A sly smile touched her lips, quite reminiscent of Severus.  
  
After it had gotten dark and the half moon was well hidden by clouds, Lily made her move. Tip-toeing as quietly as her socked feet would allow, she slipped into the boys' dorm. As she had expected, and hoped, they were out doing- well, whatever it was they did at this time of night.  
  
"Perfect," she whispered to herself. Lily dug through her robe pockets and pulled out a ball of yarn that she had found later in her trunk also. Around and around the room she went, looping the yarn and tying it to various objects until she had made a large web-like entanglement. Lily threw her leftover bit of yarn onto the floor and crawled under the web to the dorm bathroom. Inside the bathroom, she located a small bucket and made her way back into the bedroom.  
  
Lily opened James' trunk carefully, looking for his potion's ingredients. She froze. Inside, right on top of his socks, was a framed picture. The James and Lily on the other side were holding hands and waving happily at her. Their smiles made Lily's heart hurt.  
  
_I shouldn't be doing this... I should just apologize-_ Beneath the picture was a grey journal. James' diary. Lily looked around the room to make sure she was alone before opening it. The page she flipped through had James' neat handwritting tidily scrawled in blue ink:  
  
_Halloween, 1976-  
Can you believe her? Lily Evans. I'm so angry at her! I had to have that tail she gave me removed by Madame Pomfrey. That apprentice isn't at all as skilled as Madame Baits, therefore, more pain. More than that pain is the pain Lily caused. I know, I know, I keep going on about her, but she _is_ my girlfriend after all. But why didn't she just accept the fact that we have a secret? Was she that jealous? Did she really feel that we were leaving her out or something? It just hurts that she didn't trust me enough to have my own secret..._  
  
Lily couldn't read anymore. Her eyes stung and her throat was tight. Is that what James truely thought of her? As a jealous girl who didn't trust her boyfriend? With a quivering chin, she replaced the diary and then the photo. She sat for a moment, starring at the open trunk, without really seeing it, before remembering that she needed liquified camel tongue and canary feathers.  
  
Lily poured the ingredients into the bucket and stirred it with her wand. The only no-heat potion she could remember, engorgement. When it had turned a sour yellow color, she put the bucket off to the side and crawled over to Remus' trunk. Hadn't he said he and his father invented a tripe-firing gun? She found the gun, which looked more like a rocket-launcher, and peered it over. Was it- motion sensored? It was indeed! Lily found the on switch and tested it. She turned it back off and positioned it to aim at the doorway.  
  
She crawled hurridly back to the bucket, slowly tugging it across the floor to the door. In an akward position, Lily closed the door partly and levitated the bucket of engorement potion onto the top of the door. She then tied a few loose strings to the doorknob, causing silly-string to fire when the door was opened. Lily threw her only dungbombs into the room for good measure, and with a last flick of her wand, turned on the tripe-launcher.  
  
Only half satisfied with her work and thouroughly tired, Lily went back to bed.  
  
A horrific, unearthly noise woke Lily a mere half hour later. Analisa screamed and Evenlyn toppled out of her bed, onto the cold stone floor.  
  
"What was that, Lily?"  
  
"I don't know, Evee, it woke me up, too..." Lily sat bolt right in her bed and stared at the dark out-line of their door. "A ghost, you think?"  
  
Lily could see Analisa shake her hed across the room. "Ghosts don't sound like that. Not Moaning Myrtle or even Peeves..."  
  
"Oh lord! It's a werewolf! It'll eat us alive!" Analisa threw her pillow at the shreiking girl.  
  
"Shut up, Evee. Lily- Go see what it is..."  
  
Lily's eyes got big. "_Me?_ Why me?"  
  
"Because you're Head Girl, now go!" Analisa said, shooing Lily with waves of her hand. Lily bit her lip, sliding out from under the covers of her four-poster and gropped for her wand on the night stand.  
  
"Be careful, Lily!" whispered Evelyn.  
  
She swallowed hard and reached for the door knob. _BANG!_ The girls screamed as the door flew open, sending Lily sprawling across the floor in suprise.  
  
"Lily Evans! Explain yourse-" James, covered in silly-string, adorned with oversized bottom lip and ears, and smelling suspisciously like rancid meat, stared down at Lily with his engorged ears reddening.  
  
Lily looked down to realize she had only slept in a spagettii strapped shirt and her underwear. She screamed and tried to cover herself up with her arms.   
  
"James! Get out! Out out!" She screamed, turning a violent shade of red.  
  
"I- I-" James merely stood, transfixed at the sight until Analisa and Evelyn threw themselves at him, flailing their fists, vainly trying to make contact with any of his body parts.  
  
"Ow! Ow! _Oi!_ Hey, stop that now!" James sheilded his face with engorged hands and backed out of the room. "Lily- We're gonna talk later about the little stunt you pulled in my room!" The girls gave a final shove and locked James out of the room. After a moment's silence, the girls rounded on Lily.  
  
"We-ell?"  
  
Lily looked up at Evelyn. "Well, what?"  
  
"What were you doing in his room, pray-tell?" Analisa smirked and sat next to Lily on the floor. "Come on, spill it. We've got time."   
  


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**Lillian *Loves* Lennon:** Thank you very much. But, if Joanne Kathleen Rowling were to write a fan fiction, I doubt it would be called fan fiction. :)  
  
**tta:** I'm not really sure how this is going to work... Lily just has to get over it... or vice versa, but that wont happen any time soon. They're both very stubborn. :)  
  
**SlyCat Blaze:** I am soo happy to hear from you! My internet has been failing, don't know when I'll get to email ya! Part 1 of your plan is way too cliche`, but I might play with the idea a bit. Otakon was a blast! I got lots of stuff.... but one of my friends was hitting on me... Ick! I so don't like him like that! Anyway, I'll try and email you!  
  
**Sugar Free *Ichigo* Laura Gum:** Is was a Chowder of Secrets, with a Tom Riddle ingredient, cooked in a slow roasting corckpotter. Duh! Very JK-ish, eh? I'm VERY proud!   
  
**Please email me! Slytherin_Angel@MostlySunny.com**


	10. Stubborn is as Stubborn Does

**Until Death Do Us Part**  
  
_Harry Potter theme and related characters are property of J.K. Rowling. Plot idea is accredited to the original author, J.K.Rowling. Plot angle and revisions idea of Melissa Pomeroy. Character Verissa Station (name borrowed with permission from an aquaintence) property of Meisako Pyoko-Chan (Melissa Pomeroy), copyright 2002. Any and all reviews appriaciated. _  


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_chapter **TEN**_: Stubborn is as Stuborn Does  
  


*****  
Welcome to my version of 'life before Harry'. This is the story of James, Lily, and the gang in their seventh year of Hogwarts to the begining of the Harry Potter series as we know it... Please read my rendition of Harry's fifth year, Harry Potter and the Fallen Angel at Hogwarts (complete), and his sixth year, Harry Potter and the Children's Crusades (work in progress).   
****

  
  
"_That's_ what you and James are on about?" Analisa narrowed her eyes and leaned towards Lily, she whispered instensely, "That must be the single dumbest thing I have ever heard in my life."  
  
Lily glowered, "Gee. Thanks for your support."  
  
"I sincerely hope that is sarcasm, Lily, because I really think you are being very very very _very_ ignorant."  
  
"Okay! I get it! I'm being stupid-"  
  
"Very."  
  
"-but so is James!"  
  
"Lily," said Evelyn softly, speaking for the first time since they had all climbed onto Lily's bed, "Maybe you should just talk to James. You know, sit down alone and just talk about. Get out of your system."  
  
"But he's so stubborn, Evee!" Lily whined.  
  
"So are you, Lily," said Analisa firmly, "I still think the whole thing is stupid, I mean, I don't even understand! He had a secret- You nearly poisoned him and his pals- And now you set his room to attack them all?"  
  
"You forgot about that Slytherin boy," added Evelyn.  
  
"Yeah! What about Snape! What's with that?"  
  
Lily had gone quite red. Sitting on her bed, facing the interogation of her room mates, she had passed the feeling of being vulnerable a long time ago. Now she was just being taken advantage of. "Well, I... I don't know!" She covered her face with her hands and fell back onto her pillow.  
  
"Lily, I don't understand anything either... Why were you upset with James for having a secret? Everyone's allowed secrets, you know. I'm sure _you_ have secrets of some sort, don't you?" said Evelyn calmly. Lily peeked through her fingers and looked at Evelyn. She did look as though she didn't understand. Then again, she didn't understand much of anything anyway.  
  
"It wasn't that James wasn't letting me in on whatever it was that he was hiding, it was that I was hurting him, and I didn't know what I'd done ot hurt him! I was obviously offending James and Sirius and Remus and Peter, but they never told me that I shouldn't say certain things, or do certain things... I just didn't know! I didn't know!  
  
"Then they all became upset with me and I never suspected that _I_ was the reason they were upset!" She groaned into her hands and then said, "I guess it all just started from there, really."  
  
It was quiet for a moment.  
  
"And you aren't apologizing _because_...?"  
  
"You said so yourself, Analisa, I am stubborn."  
  
"Oh! Do get over it! Apologize!" Analisa was looking quite frusterated.  
  
"I can't... I just can't! Not now, anyway. I'm not ready. I'm still a bit angry, I guess."  
  
Analisa was about to speak, but Evelyn cut her off, "Why don't you sleep on it, Lily? Since you've got it all talked out now, maybe you'll come to a decision in the morning, eh?"  
  
Lily nodded and crawled under her comforter. She knew she wouldn't be over it by the morning, but she wasn't going to say that. They'd just keep her up longer and try to change her mind. But she was greatful all the same. It was good to get away from their intense, burning eyes. There were still too many things to think through. Firstly, James. He was acting funny _before_ the whole antidote incident. It started on the train ride...  
  
She groaned, pulling the blanket over her head. And what she she going to do with Severus? James clearly detested the guy, but Severus was seeming to grow fond of her...  
  
She heard someone finally click the lights off and she suddenly felt warm. It was strange, but with the comforter blocking the moonlight, it was as if she were being sheilded from the rest of the world. Lily came to the sudden conclusion that she liked the dark.  
  
Lily woke the next morning with her mind set. She was going to apologize to James, but not today, not yet. She wasn't entirely positive she could pick the right words to make him understand and forgive.  
  
Apparently she was never very good at chosing her words well.  
  
She silently decided that she would pretend James and the others didn't exist until she could bring herself to apologize. But that might make things worse. Lily was never in favor with the Silent Treatment. Lily sighed heavily and heaved herself out of bed.  
  
The air was crisp and extremely cold in the dorm. She shivered and groped for her bed robe under her bed. Dirty socks, misplaced quills, forgotten candy wrappers... she forwned. Where was that robe? She propper her elbows on the mattress and searched around the room, locating it on the window ledge. How it had gotten there was a mystery to her.  
  
Lily quickly retreived it and tugged it on. Instant warmth. As she pulled the robe over her arm, she blinked. It was terribly bright outside. She cracked open the window pane slightly and was met with a sharp burst of fresh, freezing cold air.  
  
Snow.  
  
It had snowed during the night.  
  
A smiled quickly spread across her face. She loved snow. She loved to frolic in it, to play in it, to throw it at James in the form of large balls. Lily sighed and closed the window. She would be doing none of that anytime soon. She still had the rest of the week before she had any free time in her schedule. Even then, she'd have to sneak out after hours just to be able to touch it.  
  
Lily showered and headed down to breakfast, passing two blond girls ran past, something shoved conspicuosly up their robes.  
  
"Morning, Lily!"  
  
"MacKenzie! Madeline! What are you two up-" their door slammed closed and she heard it lock behind them "-to..." She shook her head and continued down to the Great Hall. Lily passed Analisa and Evelyn in the Common Room, but purposely avoided making any eye contact. She wandered the corridor, lost in thought, until she reached the Great Hall. Even then, she randomly picked a seat at the Gryffindor table and sat.  
  
Lily had nearly finished eating the remainder of her bacon when the Marauders trooped in. She looked up and followed them with her eyes as they took seats as far away from her as they could manage. Peter met her gaze and she quickly looked away.  
  
As she did, she immediatley locked eyes with Severus Snape across the room. It was a moment before either of them even blinked. She watched him guesture towards the door with his head. Lily nodded and gathered up her rucksack from the floor. They both stood and walked out of the room together.  
  
Lily was certain she heard the boys comment as she got up. She was sure that whatever they had said had been rude, but it did sound an awful lot like _"Don't worry, James, it'll be alright, you'll see."_  
  
"Hello Severus."  
  
"Good morning, Lily."  
  
Lily smiled brightly at him, but all he could manage was a small nod in return.  
  
"Thanks for walking me to class, I-"  
  
"Think nothing of it. Our destination is the same. Why wouldn't we walk together?" he said crisply and rather fast, as if her were telling himself, rather than Lily. They were both silent as the ascended the stone staircase to MagiGenetics. He held the door for her, to which she thanked him.  
  
And yet, she was extremely releived when Severus took his normal seat in the front of the room, rather than sitting in the empty one beside her. For some reason, she felt guilty about befriending Severus. Was it because she had only started to talk to him because she was angry with James? She sighed and took out her quill. She was such an awful person.  
  
"Lily! Hold up!" Lily spun around to see Verissa running toward her in the corridor, just after her last class that day.  
  
"What is it?" Lily thought she read distress on the Ravenclaw's face, "Is everything alright?"  
  
"No!" Verissa stomped her foot and scowled unmercilessly, "Why are you being so mean to James and Remus and them? You know, just as well as I do, that they didn't mean any harm, and they know we didn't mean any harm, either!"  
  
"Vera, it's more than that. It's just- I... I'll apologize, I will, but I'm not ready yet," she smiled weakly, "You know how stubborn I can get."  
  
Verissa smiled back and nodded. "Alright, when you're ready." Her smiled faded noticabely as a dark figure stepped out of the shadows.  
  
Severus.  
  
"Evans," he said evenly, "Are you ready for this evening?" he eyed Verissa with some disinterest, "Surely you hadn't forgotten our plans for tonight?"  
  
Lily shook her head, "No, I didn't forget. I'll meet you in the library at a quarter-til-seven, that was the plan, wasn't it?" She turned back to Verissa when he nodded, but Verissa didn't look as though she had any thought of continuing their little chat.  
  
Her young face had twisted itself into a spasm of horror and she backed away several paces before positvely fleeing for the sake of sanity, or maybe she was in a hurry to tell James what she had just witnessed.  
  
"Hrmph!" said Lily, crossing her arms over her chest.  
  
"Some friend you've got their, Evans," said Severus. Ah... the language of sarcasm.  
  
"Yeah, some friend." 


	11. Snow Globe

**Until Death Do Us Part**  
_  
Harry Potter theme and related characters are property of J.K. Rowling. Plot idea is accredited to the original author, J.K.Rowling. Plot angle and revisions idea of Melissa Pomeroy. Character Verissa Station (name borrowed with permission from an aquaintence) property of Meisako Pyoko-Chan (Melissa Pomeroy), 2002. Any and all reviews appriaciated._ **

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

**  
_chapter **ELEVEN**_: Snow Globe  


*****  
Welcome to my version of 'life before Harry'. This is the story of James, Lily, and the gang in their seventh year of Hogwarts to the begining of the Harry Potter series as we know it... Please read my rendition of Harry's fifth year, Harry Potter and the Fallen Angel at Hogwarts (complete), and his sixth year, Harry Potter and the Children's Crusades (work in progress).   
****  
  


The snow had melted before Lily got a chance to go outside. She was very disappointed, but Hagrid, the Keeper of the Keys, had said the moon looked like it might snow again. So lily spent all of Friday evening working on her weekend assignments, so she would have all Saturday and Sunday to play in the snow.  
  
There was no way she wanted to miss another opportunity to play in the snow.  
  
"Lily?"  
  
Lily opened one eye and glared at whoever was waking her.  
  
_Siruis._  
  
She opened both eyes and straightened up, looking around the common room. He laughed and pulled a bit of parchment off of herface.  
  
"You fell asleep while studying, didn't you?"  
  
"Thank you for your assessment, Sirius," she snapped, rubbing her eyes.  
  
"Can I talk to you for a moment, Lil?"  
  
"You're doing that right now, aren't you?"  
  
Sirius gave her a grin and pulled up a chair to her table. "Great! Now, Lil, about this whole row with James. You know it's all nonsense, right?"  
  
Lily averted her eyes.  
  
"You know you both should just give up, forget any of this ever happened, and go find a nice broom cupboard, right? I found a fairly large cupboard last week, plenty of room to roll around and-"  
  
"Thank you for your interest in my life, Sirius, but I-"  
  
He frowned. "I am not concerned about _your_ personal life right now, Lily Evans. I'm concerned with _mine_. You are making James miserable to be around! Do you have any idea what it's like to not be able to speak to your best friend? To not be able to look him in the eye because it hurts you to see his pain that would stare right back at you? My best friend is in pain, Lily. Do you have any idea what that's like?" Sirius narrowed his eyes and his voice became intense.  
  
Lily nodded, tears spilling down her cheeks. "Yes, I do. Because he's my best friend, too." She gathered up her things and hurried up to her room. Sirius sat, looking ashamed, behind her.  
  
She flung herself on her bed and cried. For the first time since she had last really spoken with James, she cried. She cried in deep, heavy sobs that soaked her pillow. That caused her throat to clentch into a tight wad. Tears that stained her face and made her eyes swell like mushrooms.  
  
Eventually, she cried herself to exhaustion and fell into a fitful sleep.  
  
She dreamed of James. _He stood, tall and errect at the edge of the Dark Forest. He called to her, but she couldn't hear what he was saying. She ran to James, crying for him to take her back, but as she ran, he seemed to get further and further away, until she could hardly seen him any longer.   
  
Severus Snape pulled up to her in a very stylish red convertable. He called to her, telling her he could make everything better. She got into the car. Suddenly, she was scared. Afraid that Severus had intentions other than helping her and she wanted to get out of his car, but the doors were locked. It never occured to her to climb over the door.  
  
Severus made a face that was most peculiar to him. A smile. He took her hand and placed it ontop of the clutch. With his hand upon hers, Severus shifted gears and took off at top speed towards the place where James had been.  
  
James immediately became closer and closer. Severus stopped his car and Lily got out, running to James, cryng. James looked at Lily with odd amusement, as if to ask, 'What's with the crying?' Lily jumped into his arms, but immediately fell into a cavern. Falling, she looked up and saw a face- Not James' face, but quite similar... much younger. The face was crying, calling to her.  
  
A burst of horrid green light flashed-_ and she woke with a jerk.  
  
Lily forgot all hunger and any needs that her body may have yearned for. Nothing seemed entirely real for a long time. She stared at the wall for a long time, concentrating only on breathing.  
  
_In._  
  
Analisa and Evelyn had come in to take her down to lunch, but she wouldn't be moved.  
  
_Out._  
  
The twins had wanted to borrow something of Lily's. When she didn't answer, they took it and ran. She didn't know what they had even wanted to borrow.  
  
_In._  
  
Evelyn sat on the edge of Lily's bed and spoke to her for a long while. Lily wasn't paying attention.  
  
_Out._  
  
Someone tried to drag her out of her bed by force, saying something about supper, but Lily wasn't hungry and willed herself to not move. It worked.  
  
_In._  
  
Analisa and Evelyn readied themselves for bed and turned off the lights.  
  
_Out. In. Out. In. Out._  
  
It was late when Lily finally pulled her self out of bed. Much to her suprise, she still wasn't hungry. It had been a whole entire day since she had eaten. She did, however, feel grungy. She felt as if the room was suffocating her. Lily opened her window and was met with a brilliant rush of ice air.  
  
"Bless you, Hagrid... Snow!" she whispered intensely. She threw off her two-day-old-worn clothing and pulled on her heavy winter robes, cuffed with faux fur. A gift from James two years ago, and the color of her eyes, a deep, haunting emerald green.  
  
After washing her face and tugging on her snow boots, Lily sneaked out of the dorm quietly. As she reached the corridors, a horrible thought struck her.   
  
She was breaking rules.  
  
How awful it was for her, Head Girl, to be sneaking out past curfew to play in the snow. She was supposed to be an example for the others. Lily looked around and smiled, what the other students didn't know wouldn't know couldn't hurt them.  
  
As soon as she was outside, her mind with blank with glee. No more worries, no more crying. No more pain. Just snow. Snow. Lily ran fast, delighting in the _crunch crunch_ of the snow beneath her feet. She stopped running as she reached the Dark Forest. From the windows of the school, no one would be able see her at this distance.  
  
Her feet carried her in large circles, spinning and twirling in the sharp air. Lily put her hands out and laughed outright. She was dizzy with emotions. Dizzy from worrying. Dizzy from madness. Dizzy from spinning.  
  
Lily fell to the ground, breathing heavily. Her head becamse heavy, so she laid down in the snow. She watched the snow flakes swirling in tiny gusts of wind, falling from heaven, contrasting against the full moon. She wondered, did James fall from heaven? Is that where he came from? She spread her arms and legs, then drew them tight against her body. And then again. Lily carefully stood up to look at her snow angel. It was lopsided. One wing was larger than the other. She made to fix it was she saw something in the snow.  
  
_Deer tracks?_  
  
She had never seen deer in the Dark Forest before. She thought it was impossible with all the nasty creatures that lived in the wood. She heard the soft crunching of snow and turned around. A deer, no, a stag. A beautiful golden brown stag was approaching her slowly. Lily's heart pounded. Deer weren't normally easy around people, were they? At least naturally. Perhaps, someone had made a sort of pet out of him?  
  
The stag dipped his head ever-so-slightly, his elaborated antlers glistening in the moonlight, into a small bow. Lily giggled and curtseyed to him.  
  
"How do you do?"  
  
It didn't answer. Obviously.  
  
It came towards her, closer still. Timidly, Lily stretched forth her hand to pet him, and he allowed her. He was soft. Incrediably soft.  
  
"You're the same color as my boyfriend's eyes. Very hadsome, Mr. Deer."  
  
It snorted.  
  
"I know, a lame name. But what can I do? I don't often name forest creatures. I'm not Snow White." Lily watched as it closed its eyes and allowed for her to continue petting him. "Yes. Exactly the color of my boyfriend's eyes. Like, I don't know, chocolate from heaven. Do you think they have chocolate in heaven?"  
  
She scrathed behind his ear and she laughed when he tilted his head up. "Want to know a secret? James likes to have his ear scratched, too. Funny, isn't it?"  
  
It looked up at her with sad eyes.  
  
"But James and I aren't talking right now. I don't think he likes me anymore," she stared off into space. all the while petting his head, "I made a mistake. A big mistake. But I'm stubborn. I can't tell him how sorry I am. I only wish he knew... If he knew, I wouldn't have to tell him."  
  
Lily smiled at the stag. "But you don't have to worry about anything like that, do you? Nope. Deers don't do the whole boyfriend-girlfriend thing... That I'm aware of, at least."  
  
She didn't speak for a while, never wondering why the stag allowed her to pet him, thinking only of James.  
  
"Do you think my botfriend knows that I love him?" This time, she looked down at the stag, and he looked back at her. "You're proably not the best person to talk to about this, huh?" She laughed, "I mean, best _animal_."  
  
The sound of something scurrying past her feet startled Lily. She looked down and saw a large grey rat.  
  
"Oh, gross!" She stepped several feet back and scrowled at the rodent. "I hate rats."  
  
The stag bent his head down and sniffed the rat, then its head turned sharply towards the forest. Lily didn't move. What on earth was transfixing it so?  
  
She suddenly noticed a slightly putred smell. A smell that seized up her nostrels and made her stomach do funny flip-flops and made her spine contort in fear. It was the scent of a very large preditory animal. _Bears and lions and such smelled like that_, Lily thought to herself, _like the ones at the zoo._  
  
A pair of slanted yellow eyes suddenly appeared out of the brush, holding her where she was with its gaze. Lily was scared, no, terrified. The eyes emerged from the darkness, settled on the head of a very feirce looking wolf, a wolf three times as large as the ones at the zoo. She watched the snow melt as it landed on the round and grey muzzle.  
  
_A werewolf_.  
  
The werewolf growled at Lily, but she made no attempt to flee, she couldn't. The werewolf's eyes seemed to say, 'Just _try_ it, girlie, I dare you.'  
  
The stag took a step forward and snorted at the beast. It didn't move.  
  
Suddenly, a large black dog leaped bewteen the stag and werewolf, growling and barking. It locked eyes with the monster. Neither moved until the black dog barked again. Then it slowly retreated into shrubbery, followed closely by the dog. The stag looked back at Lily, then pranced after them, and the grey rat scuttled in the rear. Had she not been so terrified, Lily would have kicked the rat. Rodents were simply disgusting.  
  
When she was quite certain that the creatures were all gone, she turned on her heels and feld back to the castle. She didn't stop running until she had reached her dorm room. She had, of course, tracked snow all over the place, slipping all the while. She was much suprised to find that she actually didn't care if someone was going to have to spend six hours mopping it up. That's what magic was for in the first place.  
  
As she stood with her back pressed firmly against the door, her vision began to darken.  
  
Then she remembered to breathe.  
  
_In._   
  


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**Please email me! Slytherin_Angel@MostlySunny.com**


	12. All in a NutShell

**Until Death Do Us Part**  
_  
Harry Potter theme and related characters are property of J.K. Rowling. Plot idea is accredited to the original author, J.K.Rowling. Plot angle and revisions idea of Melissa Pomeroy. Character Verissa Station (name borrowed with permission from an aquaintence) property of Meisako Pyoko-Chan (Melissa Pomeroy), 2002. Any and all reviews appriaciated._ **

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

**  
_chapter **TWELVE**_: All in a Nut-Shell  


*****  
Welcome to my version of 'life before Harry'. This is the story of James, Lily, and the gang in their seventh year of Hogwarts to the begining of the Harry Potter series as we know it... Please read my rendition of Harry's fifth year, Harry Potter and the Fallen Angel at Hogwarts (complete), and his sixth year, Harry Potter and the Children's Crusades (work in progress).   
****  
  


(*Author crawls in and slides into her chair at the computer, hoping to not be noticed* Uh, where was I? Lily and James... oh ye- Ouch! Who threw that? *picks up projectile* Hogwarts, A History? Oh no! *ducks the onslaught of thrown objects, which included cauldrons, books, and Trevor* Okay! Okay! I'm-a-writting! And please forgive me! I'm stuck in a corner and so this chapter will be rushed.)  
  
"Get up, Lily!"  
  
Lily groaned as the toe of a foot nudged her ribcage softly, the kicker's shoe snagging on the folds of her heavy robes. "Go away." She brushed the foot off of her.  
  
"Lily, you're sleeping infront of the door and it's time for breakfast," said Analisa irratabley. Lily opened her eyes and sat up quickly, taking in her surroundings. She sat on the bare floor, her green winter robes still on from the night before. Her close encounter with the werewolf fresh in her memory, playing tricks on her mind as the dorm room's usual shadows snarled and leered at her. Evelyn and Analisa were bent over her, mischevious grins plastered lopsidedly on their faces. They looked ridiculous.  
  
"So, where were you last night, that you're all dolled up and sleeping on the floor?" Analisa grinned her silly little grin and added, "Out seeing someone?"  
  
Lily didn't answer, but stood and wiped her eyes, trying to rid them of a heavy sleep that was overcoming her again. Analisa took her silence as a "Yes, we had a shaggingly splendid time, thank you for asking," apparently.  
  
"Oh my God! Who?"  
  
"D'you think it was that Slytherin cutie with the long black hair? Severus Snape, isn't it?" squealed Evelyn, "Details, Lily, details!"  
  
"Oh Lord! You two give it up! I'm still with James, remember? You know, my boyfriend?" Lily brushed past them, ignoring their rolling eyes, and locked herself in the bathroom. After she heard them leave, she stripped off her winter robes and took a long, hot shower.  
  
Soon as she had dressed, Lily marched down the stairs to the common room, ready to head out to breakfast. No one smiled to her in the Common Room, or in the corridors. Lily felt her stomach drop into a pit of nothingness. All she wanted to do was cry. She felt so alone. Without James' hand in hers, she felt empty. In the Great Hall, he smiled at her. All of them smiled. The Marauders looked up from their seats at the Gryffindor table, flashing welcomed grins in her direction. At first, Lily was slightly unnerved because she hadn't been expecting it. Something inside her wanted to scream for joy, but it didn't. She pressed it down to a shy smile and sat in the nearest available seat, which happened to be seven spaces down, right next to the Lohman twins. She was feeling slightly bubbly as she downed her goblet of juice. Every once in a while, when she wasn't taking projectile objects from Madison or pulling gum out of Mac Kenzie's hair, she'd glance down the table and catch James' eye. It made her all, well, floaty. Perhaps things would get better after all.  
  
Or not.  
  
The whole Great Hall became deathly silent as a large, black owl with grey beak swooped in and circled above the students. Lily had never seen a black owl before. Had she not been so terrified by the thick silence that drowned them, she might have been intrigued. The owl dropped a glossy black envelope from its talons and flew out of a nearby window. She gasped when it floated down and landed infront of James Potter. So did half the school.  
  
Many students overted their eyes, while others craned their necks to see his reaction, which was not a pretty reaction, at that. James shook slightly and slowly removed his glasses, placing them gently on the breakfast table. With a quavering hand, he made to touch the envelope, but recoiled immediately and burried his face in Sirius' shoulder. Sirius put his arm around his friend tightly and said in a soft voice, "It'll be alright." He patted James' back gently. "Who was it, Moony?"  
  
Remus looked to Peter, his eyes grazing over Lily as he lifted the envelope and tore off the top. Out he pulled a greyish bit of parchment. Silently he read. Everyone seemed to hold their breath until he put it down and rubbed his temples with long fingers. "Prongs, I'm so sorry... Your mum... and your dad were both... I'm sorry, mate-" James burst into loud, violent sobs and Peter shook his head in sorrow.  
  
"Mum- Dad!" James sobbed. Lily looked at the black envelope and realization slowly dawned on her. Dear God, James' parents were... Her eyes filled with tears and her throat clentched shut completely. She remembered only too well that both James' parents were both Aurors. they had the most dangerous jobs in the Wizarding World. That must have been how it all went down. With Professor McGonagall's assistance, Sirius helped James out of the Hall and down the corridor.  
  
It was a sickly silence that filled the room then. Lily looked down at he unfinished breakfast and decided that she wouldn't be able to finish. Her stomach was doing strange flip-flops and she wanted to vomit. Verissa walked over and held Remus' hand as he struggled to hold back tears. An uneasiness rolled over Lily and she rushed out of the Hall. No one thought twice of it.  
  
Her face was hot and it pounded with every irratic beat of her heart. Lily ran into the second floor bathroom and locked herself in the stall. Thick tears spilled out of the corners of her eyes and she sobbed into her knees as she sank to the floor next to the toilet. A small knock sounded on her stall door.   
  
"Hello? Are you alright in there?"  
  
Lily hadn't realized there were other people in the bathroom, too.  
  
"Ooh! Someone must have teased her something _horrible_!" said a familiar voice. Oh no... not _her_! Anyone but that awful ghost!  
  
"Oh, hush, Myrtle!" The other girl knocked again. "You were crying, are you okay?"  
  
"Yes," she sniffed, "I'm okay... it's just... Just-" Lily began to cry again. Her door swung open slowly, with an eerie creak. Lily looked up with swollen eyes to see a girl, about her own age, with short black hair and dazzling honey-cloured eyes. Behind the girl was a ghost with ugly horn-rimmed glasses, laughter hidden beneath her transparent face.  
  
"Oh! I didn't realize it was _you_, Lily. Are you okay?" said the girl.  
  
"How did you know my name?"  
  
The girl helped Lily to her feet. "You're Head Girl. Everyone knows you."   
  
Lily blushed at her own stupidity. "Oh, I nearly forgot... I haven't been doing my duties, lately."  
  
"Some Head Girl then, huh, Dye? Not even-"  
  
"Oh, go flush yourself down the toilet, Myrtle," snapped the girl, Dye.  
  
Mrytle narrowed her eyes and her bottom lip quivered. "Oh, I see how it is. Awful Moaning Mrytle! Tease Myrtle because she hasn't got any feelings! Because she's _dead_! Let's throw things at Mrytle because she can't feel it!" Moaning Myrtle threw her arms into the air for emphasis.  
  
"Well, you _can't_ feel it, Myrtle. You _are_ dead," said the girl. Mrytle began to wail and dove into the toilet with a particularly loud splash. "She'll get over it," said the girl, turning to Lily, "She always does."  
  
"I will not!" shouted Myrtle from the U-bend in the plumbing.  
  
Lily had to smile. These two girls were funny sort of friends. "So, is there anything I can get you? To make you feel better, Lily?"  
  
Lily shook her head. "No. I just had a fight with my boyfriend a couple weeks back and now he really needs someone, and _I_ want to be that someone, but I don't know if her wants _me_ to be that someone. I don't think there's anything you can do."  
  
"Oh sure I can!" Dye took Lily's shoulders in her hands. She had an amazingly good grip. "I've got advise for you and James. The most famous couple in Hogwarts should not disolve into shambles because of shyness; or stubbornness for that matter. Go up to him, and say, 'I'm sorry.' That's it. Then give him a nice hug and find a big cupboard to snog in. It always works, believe me." The girl smiled. "Alright?"  
  
Lily nodded dully. "Okay, but-"  
  
"No buts about it! Look, I'll even go with you!" She grabbed Lily's arm and called to Myrtle, "I'll be back around lunch to say hi!" She got a gargled "O.K." in response.  
  
"So, where is the lucky young man?" asked Dye.  
  
"Hospital Wing, I'd assume. He just got a black letter by owl this morning and-"  
  
"Oh my God! Was it his Mum or Dad?"  
  
Lily looked at her feet. "Both, I think. I didn't actually read the letter, see, and then he was whisked away because he started to cry and..."  
  
The girl put her arm around her shoulder. "You poor thing. See, now I _know_ that it's just that much more important for you to be there for him!" They walked the rest of the way to the Hospital Wing in silence. Many times, Lily wished to suddenly turn around and run the opposite direction, but Dye held a firm grip on her shoulder. "Here's the door, Lily. Go on. Go to him."  
  
Lily heaved a heavy sigh and nodded. She took a step forward, then spun around to look Dye square in the eys. "You've been so kind to me. I only wish I could repay you somehow, and- And I don't even really know you!"  
  
The girl with black hair smiled. "My name's Dyendra Ashelm, but Myrtle calls me Dye. And as far as paying me back goes..." A mischevious smirk danced carelessly across her face. "You're friends with that Sirius Black, aren't you? The handsome guy with black hair and striking brown eyes?" Lily nodded slowly. "And the Easter Dance _is_ coming up soon..."  
  
Lily laughed. "I get it. Set you two up, right?"  
  
Dyendra nodded, "Yeah, but don't tell Sirius what house I'm in, alright?"  
  
"Hufflepuff?'  
  
Dyendra lifted up her sleeve to show a thick stripe of green fabric. "_Slytherin_. He might not go with me because I've heard most Gryffindors don't like Slytherins."  
  
"Oh, stereotypes. I like Slytherins just fine. But I heard Slytherins simply detest Gryffindors."  
  
"Oh, that's true." Dyendra smirked. "I'm just the exception." She looked at Lily hard, then nodded towards the door. "Go on, then."  
  
Lily nodded, then pushed her way through the threshhold, letting the door click softly closed behind her. She slowly made her way to the only occupied bed in the Wing and pulled back the curtains. She saw James lying, fully dressed, on the bed, sobbing.  
  
"James?"  
  
He looked up with red, blood shot, tear-stained eyes. "Lily?"  
  
Lily's heart flipped in her chest and she crawled onto the bed with him, putting her arms tightly around his neck and pulled him close. James cried silently onto her chest as she rocked him. "I'm sorry, James. God I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for everything..." She kissed his forehead and began to cry with him.  
  
James put his arms around her waist and hugged her like he would never let go. "Just hold me, Lily. I want to know that you are really here," he said in a quiet voice, hoarse from crying.  
  
She kissed his forehead again. "I'm here, and I'm sorry, James. Forgive me. I love you."  
  
"I love you, too. But for now, just hold me?"   
  


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I'm sooo sorry it took so long. But everything's better now, right? I mean, no more fighting! It wasn't a horrid love/hate fi!   
  
**Please email me! Slytherin_Angel@MostlySunny.com**


	13. Please Put a Penny in the Old Man's Hat

**Until Death Do Us Part**  
_  
Harry Potter theme and related characters are property of J.K. Rowling. Plot idea is accredited to the original author, J.K.Rowling. Plot angle and revisions idea of Melissa Pomeroy. Character Verissa Station (name borrowed with permission from an aquaintence) property of Meisako Pyoko-Chan (Melissa Pomeroy), 2002. Any and all reviews appriaciated._ **

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**  
_chapter **THIRTEEN**_: Please Put a Penny in the Old Man's Hat   


*****  
Welcome to my version of 'life before Harry'. This is the story of James, Lily, and the gang in their seventh year of Hogwarts to the begining of the Harry Potter series as we know it... Please read my rendition of Harry's fifth year, Harry Potter and the Fallen Angel at Hogwarts (complete), and his sixth year, Harry Potter and the Children's Crusades (work in progress).   
****  
  


Sitting on the window sill in her dormitory, Lily Evans stared out into the wide expansion. The wilderness for as far as the eye could see laid blanketed in a thik feathery comforter of snow. The trees that jutted out of the hillside like fine goose pimples on the forearm of someone opening a window on a January morning after taking a hot shower. The entire scenery was surreal. Lily felt that if she stretched forth her hand only a few inches, she much find the trees to be only minautres and be able to pluck them from the ground and carry them in her pocket. She had no such intention of deficating the landscape and therefore kept her hands neatly interlaced and holding up her knees as she hugged them close to her body. A soft wind blew through the open window, making threads of her red hair dance and tickle her face.

The was a gentle creaking, the sound of worn wood dragging lightly across stone- almost a soft sound, and the quiet echo of bare feet slapping empathetically on the floor as someone approached Lily on her sill. She heard the soft and even breath of one of her roommates and felt the familiar caress of fingers on her arm.

"Lily? Come on downstairs," said Evelyn in a pacific tone. "Gee, Lily! It's like the North Pole in here! Close the window- you'll catch a deathly cold." Evelyn reached over Lily's body and pulled in the window panes, locking them. She brushed her short brown hair behind her ears and narrowed her dim saphire eyes in inspection of her friend. "You alright, Lily? You seem reserved. Is something bothering you?"

Lily looked up and smiled at Evelyn, who started, obviously not prepared to see a genuine expression of happiness. "I'm wonderful, Evelyn. Wonderful. It's just- have you ever had that feeling- deep inside where you have just this overwhelming realization that it's good just to be alive?" She turned back to the window. "That's what I've got, Evee. And I'm wonderful."

Evelyn Kier laughed softly in her throat. "Well, Miss Wonderful, you've got to come down stairs or everyone will be murderous toward you." When Lily looked up at her friend in confussion, Evelyn embelished. "Sirius is being bloody prat and refuses to allow anyone to open their Christmas presents until you've opened the one he has for you."

Lily furrowed her brow. "It's Christmas? Today? Right now?"

Evelyn laughed and took Lily's hand in her small one and tugged her towards the door. "Yes, now hurry. Unlce Addler sent me a particularly large gift this year and I'm dying on my feet to know what it is."

"But I'm in my bathrobe, Evee! At least let me put something on," she protested.

"Lily- it's your best friends and a first year- I think we can handle seeing you in your bathrobe. Come along." With her free hand, Lily ran her slender fingers through her tousseled hair and allowed herself to be dragged down the steps into the brightly lit Gryffindor common room. The common room was its usual warm place: the fire in the hearth glowing happily with a few cheerful crackles as flames devoured air-pockets within the logs, the red velvet couches and arm chairs pulled into a semi circle in the center of the room, the nine-foot evergreen tree, added to the room specifically for the occasion, stood erect some five feet to the right of the fire place and was decorated elaborately in red ribbons and gold tinsel. Piled in mounds of wrapping and bows laid the Christmas presents for those Gryffindors who remained at Hogwarts for the winter holiday. James had decidely less gifts than everyone else, as the majority of the gifts everyone else had received came from their parents- a disadvantage on Mr. Potter's part.

Seeing Lily descending the staircarse, Sirius Black jumped off the couch he had been standing on. "Lilian, sweetheart! We've been waiting for your arrival!" he sang merrily as he rushed over to her and took her arm from Evelyn. "Come on!" Lily looked at the way his eyes laughed and she laughed, too. The majority of the room smiled at her, the brightness enthralled her, and her heart whispered of nothing but joy. The only part of the room not sharing her happiness was a corner at the far end of the room where a small first year girl in blond pigtails, who sat in the corner, arms crossed, and pouting.

James got up from his seat and gracefully arrived at her side. "She doesn't need you to hold her hand, Sirius," he said mockingly. "She's a big girl and can find a seat on her own." As soon as Sirius spread his fingers and put them to his side in a guesture of innocence James promptly took Lily's hand and led her to the couch. "Sit here, dearest." Eveyone had a good laugh about that, except for the small first year in the corner.

"What's her problem?" Lily whispered to James, who sat beside her.

"Oh, she's upset because Sirius won't let her open her present."

"Oh, that's right- So where is this special gift, Sirius? That you cannot let a little girl enjoy Christmas?" Sirius clapped his hands, sounding like dull thunder and leaped over a chair, kicking it's ocuppant ("Hey! Watch it!"), Remus in the head as he dove under the tree to fish out a gift. The package was rectangular and tied up with a bit of twine. As Lily took it, she noticed small holes in the lid. "Sirius?"

"Just open it, Lily!" said Peter. He had his arm out, inches from a elonganted box with his name on it, waiting for the moment she opened her present so he could open his. James has sLily tugged the loose end of the crude bow and the box shook a little on her lap. She looked up at the others, but upon seeing James' encouraging, smiling eyes, she slipped the lid off. For a moment, no one breathed, even the first year was sitting on the edge of her seat and looking curiously at Lily's expression. Nothing happened until Lily leaned over to peer in the box.

She screamed and nearly dropped the box as a small house elf jumped out of the box wearing a hideous make-shift St. Nicolas hat made from a table napkin. It blinked it's large, lumionous eyes and looked around. "You- you bought me a house elf?"

Sirius' grand smile slacked a bit. "Well, not exactly." He reached over and poked the creature in the arm. "Go on then, you." It turned around and looked at Sirus, nodded and opened it's mouth:

"_Little Lily Evans  
Brightest in the heavens  
Envied by all  
James caught the best one  
It makes us guys bawl  
Little Lily Evans_"

Once it finished it's song and hopped out of the box. With the scurry of it's rabbit like feet, the house elf disappeared, apparently returning to the kicthens. Lily stared at where the elf had been and let out a short breath.

"My, Sirius... how... how thoughtful of you! How on earth did you get him to do that?"

"Bribery. Told him I'd leave him some extra dirty socks to wash," he said slyly, the corners of his mouth tucked into his cheek muscles as he tried not to smile.

She turned to him and smiled. "Thank you." Sirius was evidently pleased with her reaction and slapped Peter's back as he opened his own presents.

"Told you she'd like it, Peter!"

Peter pulled a scarf out of the box, muttering, "Sure, Sirius."

The first year sneaked around the tree, stole her presents, and ran up to her room. Remus laughed with much mirth and his cheeks rose into his eyes, making them look like cresent moons. James, whose warmth seeped through Lily's robe and fought off the cold, put his arm around her shoulders. "Lily, I got you something for you."

She turned to him and smiled. "I got something for you, too." Lily leaned over and tapped Remus's foot. "Hand me that smallish one there, please? Yeah- the yellow one. Thanks." She handed it to James. 

Slowly he peeled off the wrapping, occassionally stopping as to tease Lily. When he eventually unwrapped it, he let out a soft, "Ohh" of admiration. He held the gold pocket watch in his hand, gently weighing it in his wide palm. "Lily- it's beautiful. I hope it didn't cost you too much, I-"

"Open it," Lily pressed on.

James pressed the knob on top and the cover silently poped open on a smooth hinge. The inside cover was inscribed: _To James, My friend, my companion, my soulmate. Together now and through eternity. My Love forever, Lily._ James looked to meet Lily's eyes, disbelief written all over his face. "Heavens, Lily... I don't know what to say."

Lily reached up to wipe small tears from the corner of his chocolate eyes, careful not to smudge his glasses and whispered, "A 'Thank you' might be in order." James laughed and pulled Lily up for a light, but passionate kiss. She felt his rough lips on hers and melted. She would have kept kissing him except for someone tapping her shoulder.

"Uh, Lily?"

Lily pulled away from James reluctantly. "Yes Peter?" she asked while James threw daggers at Peter from over Lily's shoulder. He handed a poorly wrapped package to her. The red and green tissue paper was extremely wrinkled and there were patches in random spots where he had obviously torn the paper on accident. "Oh, thank you...." she said politely as she studied the below par wrapping job. She carefully ripped off the paper, revealing a white box. Glancing up at Peter questioningly, she opened the box and slid out her gift.

"I made it myself- I don't have much money right now and I..."

Lily put the yellow and red dyed macaroni necklace over her head and let it rest around her neck. "Oh, Peter. It's very sweet. I like it alot, really I do." She took hold of his collar, pulled him close, and gave him a soft kiss on his cheek. "Thank you." James looked muderous as Lily leaned back and wedged herself between his arm and the couch.

Peter's eyes were round and surprised, and he didn't seem to be breathing properly. Remus laughed and slapped Peter's back. "Come now, she' not _that_ good of a kisser." James glared at him, and he laughed. "A joke, James, a joke. You know, funny ha-ha?" Remus rolled his eyes and handed James a box. "Take it. Happy Christmas."

After the vast exchange of gifts, (Lily having gave Peter a cap, Remus a breifcase, and Sirius a beer stein and having recieved a pair of small cubic zirconian earings from James) they stood up to make their way to breakfast when Remus cleared his throat. James touched Lily's arm gingerly and they both turned around to look at him quizzically.

"Come on, Moony. If we don't get breakfast now we'll have missed it entirely," complaied Sirius as he clutched his stomahe in mock hunger and proceeded to fall on his knees and moan in humorous agony. Peter touched the top of Sirius' head and he fell silent upon seeing Remus' nervous expression.

"What's wrong with him?" Evelyn asked as she tugged her newest sweater over her head.

"Lily- I haven't given you may gift," Remus said quietly, not looking up from his feet. Lily didn't reply. She wasn't sure how to. There was something in his countenance that scared Lily. Her stomach turned slightly and she couldn't swallow. Lily knew his gift was more than a small trinket or something he spent his entire vault at Gringotts on. Something that cost him much more than all the Galleons in the world. When the little blond first year skipped down the stairs and out of the common room, Evelyn turned to Lily and whispered something quietly: "I'll meet you guys at breakfast- this is between you all." Lily nodded and her roommate left.

"Lily," Remus said when the two girls had gone. "I want- boy, this is harder than I thought it would be..."

"Remus, you don't have to-"

"No!" he interrupted. "I have to. You don't understand- but I know what I'm doing. Lily," he paused for a breath, "I want to tell you my secret." There was a moment of outrage as James threw his hands into the air and shouted something Lily couldn't decifer from the magnitude or his voice. Remus shook his head and Sirius and Peter joined in with James and his wild screaming.

"Moony- you don't have to! She's fine like this- aren't you fine, Lily? Not knowing?" asked James wildly, trying for all the worl to make sense of it all. Before Lily could answer, Sirius hurried to Remus's side and began talking fastly.

"Moony- bud, you don't have to. It's probably better if she didn't know, even. You remember what you thought when you told us? Lily's different, she might not accept it like we did, you know?"

Lily felt indignant. The way they shouted and rambled on about her and whether or not she would accept Remus and how she was better off not knowing as if she weren't there at all. With an annoyed, or perhaps slightly angry sigh, Lily folded her arms and waited for them to settle down. Remus finally took his eyes off the floor and looked straight at Lily. He did not glance at Sirius who was shaking his shoulders, or gaze over Peter who sat in a chair with his forehead in his hand, or even look at James who looked as if he might cry. Remus made eye contact with Lily and held her there. There was something in his faint brown- almost yellow- eyes that told her what he going to do was important to him, and he needed it to gain something. A sense of wholeness, perhaps. Lily bit her lip and nodded slowly.

"Alright, Remus, I'll listen. I promise I won't judge you on-"

"Lily," he said, "I want you to promise to be yourself and make your own decisions based on that and only that."

Lily nodded, trying to smile. She somehow knew just how very important this was to him. "Should I sit down?"

"Perhaps- but not now. I want to tell you later- about twoish- in the classroom under the main staircase. Everything will make sense then- but right now I want some breakfast and then to spend the day with Rissa."

Lily took James' hand, who was stil looking at Remus with disbelief, and led him out of the common room. The others followed. No one said anything until they reached the Great Hall, which was gaily decorated in reds and greens and golds and whites with twelve Christmas tree, six on each side of the room, touching the ceiling that wasn't really there. It never ceased to amuse Lily that Christmas was represented by red and green, that red and green where the perfect opposite of each other and yet they were compliments together, that Gryffindors and Slytherins were these colors. She had always thought it was some sort of poetic irony, they Slytherins and Gryffindors were opposites yet complimented one another.

Lily and the others sat at the Gryffindor table with Evelyn, they eventually invited Susie, the first year, to join them. Breakfast was always best on Christmas. The food seemed richer and softer- some how even the bacon seemed to melt in the mouth just like the porridge and pudding. As Lily sipped her apple juice, she looked over to the other tables. There were only four Hufflepuffs, one was a Prefect, but Lily couldn't recall his name, and six Ravenclaws. From the way they talked excitedly among themselves, Lily was sure they were best friends and, like Lily and her's, had planned to spend the holidays together. At the Slytherin table, Lily saw Dyendra and Severus. They didn't speak except to ask the other to pass the water piture or teh pepper. She put down her goblet and wiped her mouth as the others decided to open some Christmas crackers laying next to their plates.

When the purple smoke cleared, James raised his eyebrows at his surprise: a stuffed animal- a reindeer from the looks of it. He looked up nervously to Sirius and Remus, who both exchanged akward glances. Lily rested her chin in the palm of her hand and looked at it curiously. "I once met a deer like that once- same color and everything. I remembered because he was the same color as your eyes." She looked up at James with a tender smile.

"Did you say you _met_ the deer? How does one do that?" Peter said, laughing. James glared at him and Sirius gave him a sharp elbow in the ribs.

"Well, I got right up close to him and I even got to pet him- it was stranger- but oh so awesome. I just can't explain it. That was right before this _huge_ werewolf leaped out at me and a great black dog jumped to my rescue!" Lily threw her hands up in the air to emphasize the dramaticnes of it all.

Evelyn covered her mouth as she gasped and her eyes mirrored her horror. "No! A werewolf? How terrifying!" Lily nodded and bit into a biscut.

"But actually- I wasn't all that- Where are you going, Remus? Lily looked up to see him leaving the table. He looked somewhat uncomfortable.

"I, um, I'm going to find Verissa- she's not's at her table." With that he walked out of the room with a sort of aimless purpose. Contradicting what he said and the way he acted. Like red and green.

Lily, James, Sirius, and Peter spent the next few hours doing one of Lil's favorite past times. Snow ball fight. Nothing could have made her happier than chucking snow at her friends or feeling the wetness slide down the back of her sweater and giving her goose pimples. Outside of Hogwarts looked like a dormant slowglobe. She felt that some unseen giant might suddenly pick the land scape up and give the world a shake and all the snow would lift off the ground and fall again. The thought seemed completely plausable and yet also so ridiculous. It made her feel light and airy, which struck her as odd as her feet sank into the snow with every step. As Lily ran amuck, throwing lightly packed balls of snow at the back of their heads, she unintentionally lead them increasingly closer to the Forbidden Forest. Had she realized what she was doing, she would have gone in the opposite direction. After one of the boys was hit by her snow ball, all three of them would chase after her, and she, of course, ran away, laughing and pleading for mercy. The Forest seemed the ideal place to hide, as there were many trees for her to weave in and out of to dodge their assailing snow. A few steps into the forest and she miss stepped. A sudden feeling of extreme weightlessness lifted her from her spine as she fell and threw her into a small pond, only a foot or so deep.

She screamed at the sudden cold that splashed over her entire body and numbly pulled herself up, only to slip again. This time she laughed. James darted around a tree and splashed into the water after her. "Lil, are you alright?" He grabbed her forearm and helped her up.

She laughed. "I'm alright, really. It's just a little cold." Together they sloshed through the water and ice and out of the forest. Peter jumped out from behind a tree armed with a snow ball, but he let it drop from his hand when he saw her.

"Oh- what happened?"

"I'm alright- I just fell."

James took off his own sweater and tugged it over Lily's head. "Let's get inside, okay?" Lily nodded and they hurried through the main entrance and up the stairs to the Gryffindor common room. They waited while Lily went up to her room and peeled the sopping wet articles off of her skin. Despite the drafty room, it felt oddly warm once she was out of her clothes. As she looked around for another shirt to wear, she realized that the red dye from the macaroni necklace had washed off the pasta and dyed her skin a vivid pink. Lily changed her clothes and found different shoes and headed back down stairs. James took her hand in his large ones and gasped. "Your hands are freezing, Lily!" He vigorously rubbed her hands between his and she winced.

"Ouch, James, that hurts."

He looked at her concerned, but nodded. Hand in hand, they returned to the Great Hall for a late lunch, where they ate cold-dut sandwiches and drank pumpkin juice. After they had eaten enough, they decided to go look for Remus. It was Lily, while shivering in the cold of the hallway, who spotted Remus, holding Verissa's hand, around the next corridor. No one said anything as they approached. It seemed there was a mutual agreement that Remus would do all the talking and no one was to speak until he had said his part. James opened the classroom door and they silently filed in.

Lily felt a sort of apprehensiveness to the situation. This "Christmas present" seemed to be the type of thing to be approached cautiously and with an extensive open mind. She decided that the best thing sho could do, as she sat down in a wobbly chair, was to imagine the worst possible thing he could have done and tried her best to accept that. So far she had decided that Remus was a serial killer who escaped from Azkaban and murdered his own parents. She didn't know how well she'd accept him if he _had_ done these things- but at least she'd be prepared for a shock. Remus took Verissa's hand (apparently it was her Christmas gift, too), and opened his mouth to speak. Lily gripped the seat of her chair and held her breath.

James broke the tangible silence. "Remus, you know you don't have to tell them. They'd understand if you didn't, they care for you now- I don't"

"And I care for them, James. That's why I have to tell them." Remus looked from Verissa to Lily, as if convincing himself that he was in the right. His pale features seemed to glow in the dimness of the windowlessness of the room. Verissa quently squeezed his hand and he sighed at last. "Rissa, dearest, Lily- you both know that I have a tendency to miss a bit of school every so often, about once a month, I'd say, and I know you've noticed how tired I get and how sick I look... I have- I have a sort of condition... One could call it a medical condition, if they'd like, but the truth of the matter is- damn... Rissa, Lily- I'm a werewolf."

Lily didn't say a thing, but she certainly felt her mouth slack open in surprise. It was a huge shock- though not as much as if he had been an escaped serial killer. Her mind began to swim. It only seemed plausable now. The days when he'd suddenly be gone, the baggy eyes, the moodiness. "Oh," she said after Remus had been looking between the two of them with a worried glance, minute beads of sweat forming on his brow. "That explains alot."

Remus let out a long awaited sigh and dropped his head. "I knew you'd understand."

Verissa made a small squeaking sound in the back of her throat and Lily looked up. Verissa's eyes were unreadable: glazed and concerned. Worried, mostly, in disbelief, perhaps? Her other hand numbly felt for Remus as all ten of her fingers wrapped around his hand and squeezed. "This- this is some kind of joke, isn't it, Remus? Some trick you're playing on me- because- because I don't think it's very funny to go on and poke fun like that, Remus. Remus, love, tell me it's not true." The way Remus lifted his head and looked at her with a sense of self-destructiveness and self-loathing, there could be no doubt in anyone's mind that he had spoken of nothing but the utter, painful truth.

Verissa let go of his hand and stood up so suddenly her chair toppled to the ground with a dull clatter that echoed in the thick silence. "Oh my goodness- it can't be true. You can't be- No, no, no, NO! No, Remus!" She took a step back and Remus stood slowly, reaching his hand out to her. Verissa stared at him like something Professor Kettleburn had them disect. "Don't touch me, werewolf," she snapped with disgust. With that she turned and fled from the room. Remus started after her, but didn't make it to the doorway before giving up and slumping to the floor.

"Moony- we told you," said Sirius quietly, slowly walking towards his friend.

"Just shut up, Padfoot! Just SHUT UP!" Remus waved a clenched hand threatening at Sirius, who put his hands up in deffence.

"We'll just leave you alone for a while then, shall we?" Peter stood and walked toward the door, stepping carefully over Remus. "We're here for you, Moony. You know that." Peter didn't say anymore and Sirius followed him out. Lily and James were last to leave. Lily bent down near Remus and kissed the top of his head.

"I love you, Remus, don't you ever change."

Lily and James walked together down the corridor, having nowhere in particular to go. Peter and Sirius had gone elsewhere in the castle, and the others intended not to folow. Lily put her hand gently on her boyfriend's chest and they stopped. She turned to him and looked up into his chocolate eyes. "Is this my fault?"

He shook his head and drew his arms around her shoulders and pulling her close so his cheek rested on her forehead. "No, none of this is your fault, One has to- Lily, you're awfully warm. Are you running a fever?" James pulled his hand up under her red hair and cradled her neck with his fingers. She shivered at his cool touch. "Lily, I think you should see Madame Baits in the Hospital Wing."

Lily shook her head. "No, no. I'm fine."

There was the rapt echo of shoe soul against flagstone approaching. Lily and James followed the sound as it passed them in the nearby shadows. The figure looked back, his face reflecting palely in the window light. James turned from the passing Slytherin and looked down into Lily's eyes. "There's something I've been meaning to ask you, Lil. What's with you and Snape?"

"Hmm?" She narrowed her brow in question. "Oh! Yes... that..." She looked away and bit her lip. When he lowered his head to meet her gaze, she sighed. "I feel really stupid about all of this now, you realize, or course, but I thought, while we were fighting and all, that maybe you would, I don't know, I only-"

"Lily," he said nervously, "you didn't do anything stupid, did you?"

"Maybe, but certainly not what you're likely thinking. I decided to spend time with him, hoping you'd notice- which you did, obviously- and make you jealous- which it did, apparently. Beside the fact that I received free tutoring from Severus in Magi-Genetics, nothing came of it, honestly, James. Believe me. Nothing came of it."

"To you, maybe, but that Snape's got himself a dirty mind. He's cruel and evil and full of just dark... stuff. Stay away from him, Lily. He's probably not thinking like you," warned James severely.

Lily shook her head lightly and laughed. "Alright, but Severus isn't that sort of person."

"And you'll call him 'Snape,' Lily. At least around me."

Lily looked up at James, who looked as though he might kill at any moment. She meekly nodded and they resumed walking.

At supper that evening, Remus did not eat. He spent the entire time looking over Sirius' shoulder at the Ravenclaw table, watching Verissa Station poke at her food. She wasn't talking to the other Ravenclaws, Lily noticed, and from the way she kept glancing up at Remus, then looking away. Lily could only speculate that it meant she hadn't told anyone and was wondering if she should mention his "condition" to someone else. The moment Verissa stood to leave, Remus jumped from the poliched table to meet her at the door. The Gryffindors watched earnestly as they spoke breif words and the Ravenclaw walked off. Remus didn't return to the table, only stood in the threshhold admirering his shoelaces.

Professor Dumbledore was talking to Professor McGonagall at the High Table loudly, as if he wanted others to hear it, as if looking at Professor McGonagall was just an excuse to say something, "My dear Professor, I have always prided myself in knowing that Hufflepuffs are not the only loyal students just as Ravenclaws may sometimes not be as wise as we'd like them."

Profesor McGonagall blinked twice and nodded. "Agreed, but, sir, we were talking about parakeets."

Lily saw Professor Dumbledore's eyes twinkle and she knew. She wasn't quite sure what it was exactly that she knew, but knew it nonetheless. Lily nodded to her friends and they walked over to Remus. It seemed they were in a small parade as the entire table rose at once and marched single file out of the room. "Alright?" Lily asked.

Remus set his jaw tight and mumbled, "She said... she said, 'No more,' and that she couldn't love a monster." He shook his head a little and looked up. "I'm a monster, guys. Here that?" James reached out his hand to comfortly pat his should, but Remus pushed himself off the wall with his hands. "I'm going for a walk. I'll see you later, alright?" He didn't wait for a reply and strolled off, hands in his pockets, down the corridor. A moment later they heard the main doors open and close.

"Maybe we should go af- Oh wow." Lily put her hand up to brace herself against the wall. She vision became two seperate images and blended make into one. "Oh my..."

"Something wrong, Lily?" Ptere asked.

Lily nodded. "I just got a little dizzy, is all."

James put his hand on her forehead. "Dang it, Lily. That's some high fever you've got there. You're coming to the infirmiry."

"No, I'm- oh alright." Peter ran ahead to tell Madames Baits and Pomfrey and James and Sirius each grabbed an elbow and helped her walk. She flatly refused to let James carry her, and Sirius, too, even though he was a bit stronger and she knew he wouldn't be worn out. She want to prove something. What exactly she wasn't sure, but she didn't mind. She was helped onto one of the pressed white bed-sheets of the cot in the Hospital Wing and laid down instantly.

The nurse came in with her apprentence close behind, looking old and whither like a worn strip of leather, but kind. "Petey says you felt dizzy? Now, let's have a look here- You boys, really. You all must be here?"

James looked to Sirius and Peter. "Why don't you go find Moony? He didn't have his coat." They nodded and left. Madame Baits frowned, having meant all of the boys should leave. When it became evident that James would not leave, she nodded curtly and placed her hand on Lily's head and looked at her watch on the same wrist. When the needle stopped ticking on the face, she "hmmmm"ed.

"That's a little high, dearest. One-hundred-three point seven. I can bring it down, but I want you to stay here tonight, is that alright?"

Lily nodded as Madame Pomfrey approached with a bowl of a creamy blue gelatinous substance and a wash cloth. She coated the cloth and drapped it over Lily's forehead. It was instant relief that made Lily start in surprise. "Ooh- that's nice... Lemme tell you, James, I don't think I'd like to fall in another pond no matter how good this feels."

The door opened again; Peter and Sirius were dragging a white faced Remus between them and threw him on the bed next to Lily. "He was sitting on the front lawn without a coat," Peter said. The nurses shooed the boys, all three of them away (James sending Lily one last loving look), and bent over Remus. In an hour both Lily and Remus were alone in the Hospital Wing with the lights shut off. The light from the cresent moon outside shined through the long windows, casting a sickly look across Remus' face as he tried to sleep. Lily also tried, but continued to fail.

"Remus?"

"Hmm?"

"Have you always been a werewolf?"

"Seems like it. I was biten when I was a small child. Mostly I've grown up with it, so all I know is what I am. I can't remember how life was before this." His voice was flat and monotone, as if he were reading from a script.

She watched him lie there, not blinking. "Does it hurt?"

"What?"

"Morphing into- a wolf?"

"Yes." He turned his head and looked her dead in the eyes. "Alot. Sometimes I cry, but mostly I just scream in pain. It hurts more than anything."

"More than child birth?" Lily asked with a faint smile.

"I wouldn't know, Lily, you tell me." He laughed and then sighed heavily, shoulders pressing lightly against his pillow.

"Remus- that night I was outside-"

"After curfew?"

"Shush! -that night, you were the werewolf I met, weren't you?"

"I was." Lily laid for a moment in silent contemplation as her mind slowly turned it's tiny wheels. Remus was hardly seen without his friends and that werewo- Remus- had been in the company of some animals... That stag reminded her of James in so many ways... His nervous glance when he got that deer in his cracker... James was that stag? No, impossible. "Remus? Those animals-"

"Just random creatures of the forest with primal instincts to protect the weak and innocent rather than devour them, like I am. I'm a monster. If they hadn't been there, I would have hurt you, Lily. Forgive me."

"You didn't do anything to me, there's nothing to forgive." There was an akwards silence as Remus turned his back to her and tried to sleep. "Remus?"

"Hmm?"

"I don't think anything ill of you."

"Thank you. It means alot. Good night, Lily."

"Good night, Remus."   
  


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I know you probably all hate me desperately and would like nothing more than to slaughter me for leaving you in the dark for months- but I can at least say i left you at a good part and not a stupid little cliff hanger that would have you on your knees and crying me to write more. Let's just say I had painted myself into a corner. You know the saying, right? I knew a writer's block was approaching, and yet I ploughed ahead until I couldn't go anyfurther and I couldn't go back. It has been months and I have finally found the inspiration I needed. I'm soo sorry that I have ended up being cruel by not leaving you guys informed. But I can happily say that this LONG, LENGTHY chapter is meant to be such JUST FOR MY READERS. And speaking of readers:

**S.C. Hardy:** Ach Himmel! My ex and I were worse! Where do you think I got my inspiration for all the meanness that was exchanged? My ex, of course, and no one but!

**tta:** LOL- Yes, I updated. And I updated agaiN! Aren't you proud of? After hating me, of course! I'd ask for your email, but alas, I'm sure you've deleted that particular one by now, haven't you? I'm soo sorry! Forgive me, won't you? The reason James and his friends were smiling is because they secretly heard her confession. Things will just start looking up from there, really. I'm so pleased that you got a mental picture. I was really going for a sort of poetic feel, but I think this chapter is more poetc than any other, really. I hope you like it. P.S. That was my favourite line, too! It just came to me like that!

**marzoog:** Yes poor James indeed. It is horrible, but it had to be done. His parents and Lily's parents both need to meet their end before they do theirs, as Petunia is Harry's only living relative. In your fic? Really? I'll have to go read it. Is marzoog your FF.net ID? I'll look it up. I want to read it!

**ron's bootylicious laura:** Oops. A little later than the fifteenth, isn't it? Hahhah! Sorry! But you'll review anyway, wont you? PLEASE? Glad you like it, but I don't speak French- and, since when do you?

**MinaPotter:** Very pleased that you like it, really, I am. It also said that the gang used to sneak out of the Shrieking Shack and have close calls. This would be one of the close calls.

**Lilyflower8602:** Thank you very much! It really makes me happy when someone likes my work. I'm sorry that I have kept you waiting!

**Slycat Blaze:** Of course I wont leave Severus out! What do you take me for? Severus Snape happens to be my very favourite character in all of the Harry Potter books! Actually, there have been some original characters I've liked- but not as much as Severus! Thank you. I wouldn't call my art a "masterpeice," but if you want to, go right ahead!

I'm ssoooooooo sorry it took me soo long, but I am very glad you enjoyed it. hopefully I didn't make you wait too long that you are no longer interested!

Thanks to everyone who read this chapter, even though I'm a lame author! I'm sorry! I'm not worthy of your reviews, Oh-Great-Readers of mine! *bows repeatedly* But a few would be nice. ;-)   
  
**Please email me! Slytherin_Angel@MostlySunny.com**


	14. There Will Always be a MorningAfter

**Until Death Do Us Part**  
_Harry Potter theme and related characters are property of J.K. Rowling. Plot idea is accredited to the original author, J.K.Rowling. Plot angle and revisions idea of Melissa Pomeroy. Character Verissa Station (name borrowed with permission from an aquaintence) property of Meisako Pyoko-Chan (Melissa Pomeroy), 2002. Any and all reviews appriaciated. _  


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chapter **_FOURTEEN_**: There Will Always be a Morning-After 

  
  
*****

  
  
No one quite knew how to react to the entire situation. Remus seemed to be in utter stupor with it all. His speech was like a four-leafed clover: a rare and lucky occasion to happen upon. He barely spoke the days that followed and his eyes were distantly hollow. Lily felt if she stared too long into his eyes, she was apt to lose her footing and fall forever into the deep wells of sadness that had recently taken residence on Remus' face. They were there ever since Verissa had decided that he and she were better off not dating- and apparent from Verissa's equal lack of speach- not speaking. The day after Christmas, Verissa had owled her parents and made arrangemnets to come home for the rest of the holiday; a family in Hogsmeade had agreed to let her use their fireplace for floo travel.

Knowing Remus' secret didn't phase Lily one bit. To her, it made everything fit. The pale faces, the hatred of the night, frequent visits to the Infirmiry, a need to tend to his "ill mother," and other excuses. It all sort of clicked, like a jiggsaw puzzle of sorts. The pieces just connected and the entire picture was loads easier for Lily to grasp. The only thing that Lily allowed for herself to change was her lack of sensitivity. She knew certain things pushed certain buttons, and now knowing why, she kept her mouth shut. Lily still was clueless on how Severus Snape was a part of Remus' illness, but she didn't want to press on with it. She knew what happened last time she nosed into where she shouldn't pry. She didn't want to strike a tender nerve.

Lily's heart strings were tangle and knotted into tight bunches and she had trouble thinking properly at first. She loved both Remus and Verissa dearly, and it pained her in the most horrid of ways to see them at odds with each other. Lily wasn't upset with Verissa for what she did, it seemed like the logical thing for a person to do- run- but she thought Verissa was different than everyone else. She thought Verissa had more compassion. Obviously she was wrong, but Lily was still disappointed. She didn't see how something so trivial as an "illness" could break two people apart- seeing how they seemed so wonderful together. She hated to be cliche`, but couldn't love conquer all?

Sirius was of a different opinion entirely. "C'mon, mate. Get over her. I told you it wouldn't work out properly! She's a fifth-year Ravenclaw! She's too young to understand! Maybe if she was our own age... but Moony- she's just... just not your type."

Remus always got in a furry huff and snappish at Sirius everytime he mentioned the "I told you so" story, saying how would Sirius know his type? and how could he criticize a girl Sirius revused to get to know? Conversation dropped cold from there on, like someone dropped slick ice cubes down the backs of everyone's shirt. It was more than talk that chilled, even. Each time Sirius opened his gapping gob to down on Verissa, Remus became more frigid and unsettling. It was like trying to talk to a rather large iced-Remus-pop. His frozen stare gave Lily the willie-gitters; she often squirmed beneath his gaze, like her knickers were riding up in the middle of church or something equally uncomfortable. At one point it seemed that Remus had frozen himself to a stiff wooden chair in the Common Room. He refused to leave. James eventually sat next to him and was equally silent. Remus, obviously feeling horrendous guilt, left the room, only because James said he wouldn't move until Remus did. After that Remus began to melt- almost like someone forgot to close the door to the ice box. In general Christmas holidays were far from the stereotypical fuzzy warm ones everyone else in the world seemed to be having.

Not much changed when the school began to fill with returning students, happy and rosy cheeked from fireside chats with families and hearty meals seasoned with love. It was was enough to make Lily jealous and her stomach revolt in envy. The only thing that seemed to shift was Remus. He forced himself to focus all of his time on studies and assignments, rather than a certain cherry-headed Ravenclaw.

Sitting in her Magi-Genetics class, Lily felt over-whelmingly uncomfortable, like she knew a very horrid bit of gossip about her best friend and was detirmined to let it fester inside rather than confront the friend or perpetrator. Throughout her fight with James, Lily had become friendly with Severus and yet James made it clear that she was not to associate with the Slytherin. As her wrist flexed and twisted while she jotted down various notes, the rythmic _scritch scratch_ lulling her into a dull stupor of thought, she sat at the same polished desktop as Severus, although a seat remained between them.

"Miss Evans?"

Lily blinked and looked up at Professor Diov, whose maticulous hair-grooming, which framed her face, gave her the appearance of a Muggle-type doctor. "Yes?"

"Please read the second colomn on page 572 of your text book out loud for the class," said Professor Diov, settling down at her parchment flooded desk.

Lily groaned inwardly, hating to speak publically, but hating more to say "no" to a teacher. She stood, weighing the book equally on both hands. "Tut-tut"ing herself as she scanned the page for the spot, Lily began speaking. "_Curse of the Founders_ is a magical disease of great power. The four founders of Hogwarts are known for their skills and magical ability. Their magic was so strong that they all four were able to control a 'super-power.' To keep this power in check after their deaths, each married a full-blooded wizard or witch. By descendent of these lineages, otherwise known as an 'Heir to the House,' the power would be unleased, should the full-blooded descendent conceive a child with a body of non-magical origin (muggle, Half-Muggle, Magical with both Muggle parents).

"The Ministry of Magic has tried to keep check on all Heirs. The Ravenclaw line has died out, and the current Heir of Hufflepuff has chosen to be sterilized-" A few boys laughed. "-rather than risk letting the power be unleashed. Salazar Slytherin, knowing the affect of the _Curse of the Founders_, fathered many children with multiple women. Fortunately, all women were full-blooded. All but one line has died out, the only remaining Heir has recently shown great skill and power. The Ministry of Magic lost track of the Gryffindor line when Annita Gryffindor had her name changed. The power said to be unleased by the _Curse of the Founders_ is enough for the Heir to single-handedly rule the Earth. With such power one could use it for good or ill."

Lily exhaled and dropped promptly into her seat, to which the teacher stood and walked to the front of the class with a strange metallic clod of her unique silver boots.

"Thank you, Miss Evans. Tonight, for your homework, I would like you to write a six-inch paper- small handwriting this time, Mister Brians, no six inch letters- on what you speculate may happen should the Heirs of Slytherin and Gryffindor ever meet. I am looking for creativity and a basic concept of today's curse," she said softly, glancing down at her wrist watch. "You've got three minutes before class is over- if you're quiet, and walk slowly, I'll let you go early. Go on now- pack up and get." Professor Diov smiled, hands on hip in a very professional-type manner, and strode back to her desk to pack up her own papers.

Lily slipped a bit of parchment between the pages of her book to keep her place and tucked her things away into her rucksack. The back of her neck tingled, and there was an odd pressure between her shoulder blades. She turned her head sharply, her thick ponytail whipping over her shoulder. Severus was staring at her with thought, interest, and something cruel. Perhaps hatred or contempt, but still cruel.

"Are- are you alright, Severus?"

"Mmm. Peachy," he said in his usually deep nasal voice, though a little more raspy than usual.

"Your sarcasm's killing me. Really, though. You're looking at me like you've heard some really juicey gossip about me or something." He smiled. "Was that it? Gossip?" Lily hooked the clasps on her bag and turned to face him wholly. "Let's hear it, then."

"You're back with Potter?" He seemed genuinely interested in her life presently, but at the same time, as though he could care less.

Lily nodded. "Yeah, is that why you're staring like that?"

"I'm looking at you like this because I can see your future, Evans."

Lily smirked and folded her arms tightly across her chest, regarding his sallow complextion and stern countanence almost comically. "Future, eh? A divination expert, then?" she asked dryly.

"No." His face turned expressionless. "I just have common sense." He narrowed his eyes with knowledge and left the room.

Lily was puzzled, and she had no doubt that it showed clearly on her face, performing the exotic dance of confussion for the world to observe. Fumbling with the straps on her bag, Lily began to swill it all in her head. How could anyone possibly know the future? Even the future of someone else? Lily never believed in all that mumbo-jumbo about divination and fortune telling. A bunch of bull. What was he referring to? Her future with James? She had always assumed... but... How the heck would Severus know? Or maybe he wasn't talking about James at all? Something else?

There was an almost numb pressure on Lily's sjoulder and she jumped. "Oh, Professor! It's just you- you scared me!"

Professor Diov chuckled softly. "Just me, indeed." She raised an eyebrow. "The bell rang- why didn't you leave with the others?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. I was just thinking, is all. I'll leave."

The professor reached out a small hand and stopped Lily in her tracks. "You look troubled- want to talk?"

Lily smiled her thanks to the teacher, but shook her head. "Nah, I'm good." Lily slung her bag over her shoulder and dashed out. The corridor was an empty tunnel of paintings and tapestries, looming high over head, threatening to crash down and squash Lily beneath. The flagstoned floor swallowed her footsteps, and she felt as though she wasn't really there, but witnessing the world as a ghost might; a sort of detatched feeling flooding her head. She picked up the pace and stared at her feet as she ran, simply to make sure her feet actually hit the ground- to reassure her that she wouldn't fall over. All the while her brain relayed a message: Why had Severus been so creepy? What and odd thing to say. Why did he-

"Oof!"

Lily suddenly ran smack into something tenderly solid and went sailing to the floor, landing sharply on her wrist. "I'm sorry, I-"

A calloused hand, familiar and loving, reached for hers and helped her up. "Lils? Summat the matter?" James picked up her rucksack and slung it over his own shoulder.

"James!" She kissed his cheek gingerly. "Oh, I was just thinking. Se-nape said something that sort of made me a little uncomfortable, and- James, what?" Lily noticed his rough faced was pulled in at several places as he scowled disprovingly.

"You were talking to him?"

"Graciousness alive, James! I have a class with him, you know that. I don't see how this makes you so ornery and-"

"He's an ungrateful, pessimistic Slytherin who jumps to conclusions. So tell me what he said so I can beat the bloody crap outta him," James said calmly, though the sweet brown eyes behind his wirery glasses betrayed him.

"He only said that he could tell my future- odd, but nothing wrong with it. He said... he said it was common sense." She took his rough hand in hers and tugged him down the corridor. "C'mon, supper time. I'm starved."

"He said _that_?!" James exclaimed, turning to stare Lily square in the face with wide eyes.

"What?! Is that bad?" Lily felt her stomach flutter as she thought of all the horrid things it could mean that she was just too naiive didn't understand.

James winked. "Nope." He shrugged, eyes sparkling. "Snape's off his nutt. Multiple screws loose, if you ask me, which I'm sure you won't, but I told you anyway, so there."

Lily laughed and slugged him playfully in the arm. "James, you creep! You started me a second!" James only smiled, and with the speed that would qualify him to play as Seeker, planted a light kiss on Lily's face where her jaw met her earlobe. His cold nose pressed into her cheek, nudging his glasses askew and blurring the lenses.

"Let's get some dinner," he whispered in her ear. His warm breath left droplets of moisture on the fine hairs on the back of her neck. She giggled and ran her hand over his black-cotton draped shoulder. He kissed her earlobe.

"James, you sly puppy. You can't have desert first," she said as he backed her into the once intimidating wall.

"Just one more kiss?"

"Okay- just one. Right _here_." Lily placed a slim finger on her bottom lip and pouted mid-grin. James closed his eyes and leaned forward. As Lily closed her eyes and tilted her chin up, the sound of someone clearing her throat startled James and Lily both enough to make them jump.

"My, my, my... Public display of affection between two Gryffindors- Head Boy and Girl, no less? I would assume you two were _just_ on your way to the Great Hall?"

James turned slightly and Lily could see a slightly annoyed (and slightly embarassed) Professor McGonegall over her boyfriend's shoulder.

"Of c-coruse, we were, Professor," James managed.

She nodded sternly. "Now go."

James grabbed Lily's hand and bolted down the corridor with Lily's hair flying out of its hair-tie and into a wild fury of red silk ribbons. Once around the corner, they laughed. They sneaked into the Great Hall, where long wooden tables sprouted from the ground like ancient tree stumps. Black-robed students sat on either side of the tables, the backs of their heads greeting Lily and James with a myriad of blonds, browns, reds, blacks, and the occasional blue-tint from rebels to the status quo. Profesor Dumbledore smiled at them as he gave the last of the evening's announcements, eyes twinkling with amusement.

"-will be retiring early, due to certain events and _accidents_ caused by a few reckless students. So we'd like to welcome our new caretaker, Mr. Argus Filch, who will be joining us next month. I'd like to ask students to pick up after themselves in the mean-time or detentions will expland to include dusting, moping, and polishing." A few students groaned, but Dumbledore, looking regal in robes of robin-egg blue and his massive, whispy beard, seemed to not have noticed. "Next we have our Spring Social during the Easter holidays. We will have plenty of food, music, and the general dancing and merriment. All students are welcomed- dates are not required. The dress will be nice casual, so no need to rush out and buy dress robes. I must reitterated that-"

Lily glanced over and saw that Dyendrah was watching her with those serious honey-coloured eyes and a light-switch flipped on in her brain. Her mouth dropped over in rememberance, and Lily nodded quickly at Dyendrah. She had nearly forgotten that she had promised the Slytherin a date with Sirius... now only to get Sirius to comply...

"Eat up."

The room suddenly filled with aromatic smells of lucious foods of all varieties, and the empty plates filled to the buldging brim with subtance of an edible nature. Lily picked up her fork and twilled it between her thumb and forefinger. "Hey, Sirius?"

"Hmmn?"

"Have you, er- got a date for the Spring Social?"

James and Sirius both choked on their mouthfulls of foods. James wiped his mouth with a napkin before displaying his astonishment. "You want to go with _Sirius_ to the Easter dance?"

"No. Golly, James, don't be so jumpy! I was asking for a friend, for your information," she said, turning a fine mist of red.

Sirius looked up sharply and smiled. "Who?"

"Surprise."

His face sagged with disappointment; then he smirked. "I see. She's ugly, isn't she?"

Lily tweaked her head deffensively. "You think a girl is only worth while if she's pretty? What about personality? Character?"

Peter nodded and shook a chip at Sirius. "Yep. She's a cow."

Lily threw her fork at Peter, mercifully missing his ear by mere centimeters. "She's not! She's very pretty, in fact. So pretty that I'm jealous," she admitted. "She's got sleak black hair and moonlit complextion and these incrediably intense eyes and-"

James laughed. "She's setting you up with Snape, mate!" His smile faded when he saw Lily's fierce, reprimanding glare, though his eyes twinkled like Dumbledore's might.

"Honestly! Anyways, Sirius, this gal did me a favor once and I promised to repay her- this is what she wanted! Please? Do this for me?" Lily reached over and took his hand, lightly squeezing it.

Sirius shrugged. "I guess it saves me the trouble of asking someone else and being rejected." Lily smiled her thanks and quickly looked up to wink at Dyendrah. Sirius turned around to see who she was looking at, but seemed to be eyeing the the Ravenclaw tables rather than Slytherin for her sly counter-part. After supper James headed out to the Quidditch pitch with Lily beside him, making mild conversation. Near the changing rooms were two Ravenclaws, chatting mildly, almost flirting. Lily recognized the chap as the Ravenclaw team captain- the girl's cherry-white hair spoke for herself. James cleared his throat, and the captain looked up.

"Er... Johnson? Can I speak to you in private?" The keeper looked at James and blushed.

"Sure, Potter."

The two boys walked away without so much as a "later" to the girls. Lily looked to Verissa, who didn't seem to want to make eye-contact. She stared down at her brown Mary-Janes, detirmined to snuff out an ant with then blunt tip.

"Vera- can we talk, too?"

Verissa shrugged her cherry-white hair off her shoulders and frowned, making herself look extremely unattractive. "Come to snap at me? Give me the "holier than thou" speach? Reprimand me? Chastize me? I won't stand for it, Lily. Not a bit."

"No-" Lily cooed, stepping closer. "I'm just wanting to talk. Friend to friend- or Gryffindor to Ravenclaw, if you'd rather?"

Verissa smiled weakly. "Friend to friend is fine. Uh- why don't we walk?"

Lily nodded, and they walked. It was silent save for the rhythmic clapping of their shoes against stone. "Vera? Can I ask you why?"

Verissa looked up at Lily through her lashes, avoiding direct eye-contact. "Why what? Why I was talking to Tim, or why I broke up with Remus?"

"Remus."

"I thought you weren't going to chastize me?"

Lily sighed and took Verissa's hand in hers. They walked through an open threshold and into a small courtyard, dimming with the last bit of sunlight. "I'm not doing anything but asking a question. I know it's your life and you can do whatever you please- but some of us are just a bit confused as to your motive."

Verissa looked at the grass, dry from a warm day with little rainfall in the past week. "It's hard to explain what went through my head, Lily. I don't think I could ever think of the words to describe it if I had a millenium. It was just a rush of thoughts and emotions- Merlin, the emotions! It hurt me so much... to do what I did..."

"It hurt Remus, too. It still hurts him, if you'd look and see how his head hangs and his eyes fade," said Lily softly, sitting on one of the marble benchs and tugging Verissa down to sit beside her. The courtyard was void of students and teachers, but full of life nonetheless. The trees stood tall, each competing with one another for the last bit of sun and the schrubs loomed well over the trimmed grass. Verissa sat and smooth out her robe across her lap.

"I know- _heavens, I know._" She covered her face with her fragile hands.

"Were you disgusted with him? Horrified that he was- is- what he is?" Lily pressed. 

Veriss shook her head, shoulders trembling.

"Then what? I don't see how-"

"I was scared," Verissa whispered. "How would you feel if the man you loved turned to be something you never imagined? He lied to me- he said he was sick... said that his mother was sick, too... He eventually told me the truth- but wouldn't the truth have been better off up front?" She sobbed. "What if we got married? Would he leave me once a month and be ill for weeks on end? What if..." Her voice dropped even lower, a faint breath above silence. "What if he hurt me and I got infected, too? Away from Hogwarts there is no real safe place for him to go! Where he can be allowed to do whatever it is he does when he _changes._ What would happen if we had children?" Verissa looked up, eyes wide and blood-shot. "Would they be just like him? How could I raise children with... What kind of father could he be? Remus lost his childhood to his _illness_- does he even know how to deal with kids?" Verissa wiped her eyes, smearing some form of beauty concoction similar to mascara across her face. "My future shattered like glass and if I moved forward, I'd only cut my feet- I'm afraid of getting hurt, Lily. It makes my stomach drop out and I feel sick whenever I think about it." She sniffed and patted her nose with the blue hem of her sleeve.

Lily returned Verissa's weak smile and added a smirk. "You thought about children?"

Verissa blushed and smiled the best she could manage through her tears. "Yeah."

"You must have loved him a lot."

"Yeah... I- I still do."

Lily put her arm around the other. "Then I don't see a problem."

Verissa looked up, eyes squinting. "Didn't I just tell you what the problem was?"

"Vera- if you love him, then there isn't a problem. Remus is a great guy. He's always been wonderful and charming, hasn't he? James and Peter and Sirius have all found ways to still be friends with Remus, despite his condition. You're a special person to Remus, he'd want to find a way to work this out."

Verissa swallowed and wiped the last of tears. "But Lily- I've been a wicked person. He can't possibly want me back after how I hurt him."

Lily hugged Verissa rather unexpectantly. "Oh, but he does. Trust me. He loves you."

Verissa stood and nodded at Lily. "Thanks. You're going to make James a very nice wife one of these days." She tucked some hair behind her ear, pivoted in the grass, and hurried back into the castle.

Lily sat alone in the rosy dusk of a perfect evening. She blushed until it felt like a sunburn and covered her face with both hands. 'What made Vera say that?' she thought. She had never really dewllt on the thought of marrying James. She knew she loved him, and that she was going to spend the rest of her life with him, but she had never really thought about a tangible wedding. Looking at her slender hands, Lily amused herself by imagining how elegant a ring would make her fingers look. Smiling to herself, Lily decided that she was going to ask him to marry her on the last day of school. Sort of a 'congradulations' gift. She looked up at the sky and saw stars begin to speck the heavens timidly. Surely Mr. and Mrs. Potter were up there, sadly watching their only child excell trhough his school work and at sports and such. She knew they were proud of him. She was. But she had to wonder... would she have their blessing? 

  
  
~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~ 

  
  
I got so many emails saying how wicked Verissa was that I had to do something about it! My friend (from whom I borrowed the named Verissa) thought I was giving her a bad name! ;-)

**S.C. Hardy:** LOL! Yep, women certainly DO become monsters once a month... my sister more than usual. *shudders* It's best not to even TALK to her on those days. It's okay- your "Remmy" will be taken care of!

**SlyCat:** Of course the plot thickens! They're still in school- I've got all the way up until they die to thicken the plot- so you may have to wait a bit. :-)

**everblue3:** Thanks! It's always nice to get a little compliment once and a while froma reader- lets you know you're appreciated. I know I took forever getting this last chapter up, but not as long as it took the OTHER chapter! Yikes! Well, seeing as school's out and all of my computer-less studying has payed off (go 4.0!!), I may have time to update more often!

**tta:** LOL! From your many "gr"s, I'm assuming you're kinda into this fic, neh? Well, that thing you thought was going to happen- it will. Just wait. (I mean, like the NEXT chapter waiting type deal. ^.^) SOrry it took so long!

**Lilyflower:** Thanks! I hope you liked this chapter, too!

**Laura/Susie/Ninnykins/Ginny:** You'd BETTER not find anything wrong with this one! LOL! I read through it TWICE! Enjoy!

**Clearbrook:** Verissa had to act that way because it doesn't mention Remus ever getting married or whatever in the books, so I can't let their relationship get too far, can it? Otherwise it's un-canon! But I got so many angry comments about her that I HAD to do something. Now I'm kinda in a hole I can't get out of.

**marzoog:** I hope you're happy to learn that I updated again! I should be updating more often, b/c of summer and all. :-) I haven't read your fic yet, but I plan to in the morning! It's rather late right now...

**Prongs:** *sheepish* Sorry! I TRIED to update- but with school and finals and jazz... But hey! I was able to make it a lot nicer than how it was originally b/c I waited!   
  
I have an E-Mail: Slytherin_Angel@MostlySunny.com Please email me! :) I'd like that. My AIM is IAMAHufflepuff. Ring me up sometime and I'll keep you updated! 


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